Whiteshade of Blackness
by E-mu saru
Summary: a prussian eyed beast saved by a violet eyed lady, the OnePast began to unroll with their Present lives. NOT a ‘Beauty n the Beast’ story..! ...did the world's Sphere get narrower when they opened their eyes to Life?
1. prussian

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku may 19, 2006**

**Warning** : AU, fantasi, drama, angst, romance, many terms of actual words, many nick-names or original names for alterations of the G-boys' names (hopefully not all of them), OCs, some OOC, magics, spells, talismans, spirits, magical abbilities/creatures, war, gore, Heero-abuse (couldn't help it, Saru LOVE him!), violent, and etc, etc ('couldn't name them more because Saru haven't got to those parts yet). Mature contents..? Huummm, 'guess not... just kisses, probably... haven't decided yet! XD

**Disclaimer** : G-boys NOT Saru's...story n concept, though...hehehh

**Summary** : a prussian eyed beast saved by a violet eyed lady, the One-Past began to unrolled with their Present lives. NOT a 'Beauty n the Beast' story..!

** 1 prussian**

"...He really did those things...?" the blue haired Landlord asked the villagers with a toughtfull tone tinged with little curiousity. The few haggard men nodded their heads convulsively, though their eyes were wide, some with fear, some with anger, some with trepidation and shock. Their expressions are silently begging their Lord to understand their unbelievable story, and desperation for the Lord's protection, that they are not the bad people here, but the victims. Though, they knew even they would not have believed the stories they're relating now if they were not the first hands experienced them.

The Landlord rubbed his chin in a few silent moment. Scrutinizing the people in front of him on the court's floor, but mostly his eyes were trained to the little bundle dumped in front of them. His long forsaken soldier instinct pricked by something alarmingly strong and cold...dreadfully cold. He could have sworn he felt his breath fogging with frost air everytime he exhaled, but the sunshine striming down trough the tall windows aligning the stonewalls of the court-room belied that. The warm late spring wind blew idly with the scents of flowers from the garden outside, as if trying to dissipate the smell of dried blood and other unpleasantness wafted from the ragged little bundle, to no avail.

"...Really...?" the Lord asked mostly to himself.

"...Yes, milord..! That...BEAST..even bit one of the villager's hand off! ... He was just trying to feed the beast, milord..!" one of the villagers spoke fearfully, few of the others mumbled their affirmative.

"...Off?" the Lord scrunched his blue brows together. He didn't like the sound of that news.

"Yes, sire...! From..." the man stuttered and made a motion to show which part of the hand severed. His left hand moved frantically on his right arm, starting at the middle of the lower arm near the elbow.

The Landlord thinned his lips while his frown digged even deeper between his eyes. "Was he dead? How many casualties you said before?"

"No, milord. But poor young Heron is expecting his first child in a couple of months...with the condition he's in now, his young family would have difficulties to make a living...The young couples don't have any relatives other than his wife's ailing mother and two younger siblings whom still too young to support the family," a man in mid forties spoke up. Another younger man with fiery haircolor and looked like a mercenary cut the older man with clipped tone.

" Fourteen dead: four villagers, seven hunters, and three mercenaries. Not less than a dozen men wounded, including that young farmer who tried to feed it ..!" his hard eyes flicked to the olderman, clearly showing his disapproval. The villagers opposed him with thick air of dislike.

"...And all that done by a little wildling here...?" the Lord cut fast before any fight erupting. Noting that the man reffered the little bundle with 'it'.

"That THING is more than dangerous, sir! We would have slayed it if not for some weak-hearted villagers who think that it looked humanoid..!" the young mercenary spoke a bit too loud for the Lord's taste and so the Lord shifted his stare at him. The fiery youth shrunked a little under that powerfull stare and clamped his mouth shut.

"So..! You people hunted the wildling down for days.., after some casualties of a few hunters you brought a few villagers and hired some mercenaries to bring the wildling down. And after some bloody feuds, you managed to capture the little wildling over there but with no small amount of loss.." the Lord recited the story they've offerred him before.

"...And what did the wildling do before some of you decided to hunt him down, in the first place?"

"..T...tresspassing personal vicinities, Sire..!" another villager spoke up.

"Anything missing..?" the Lord pointed.

"No, Sire... but the beast frightened some of us who saw it.."

"Did the wildling harmed them? Any of them... or made an act like he would make any harm on either of them or their living possessions..?" the Lord pointed more.

"..It's... the feral... wild things that .. that beast..." the villager stuttered in fear, either fear of the Lord's oncoming judgement or of the beast, or maybe both.

"Milord, the fact is that that-THING had killed even some experienced mercenaries during the.."

"And even some experienced mercenaries failed to recognize that that-Thing is just a little boy..?" the Lord cut the stubborn mercenary's words before he couldn't maintain his anger at them anymore. Some stubborn mercenaries and hunters who think that they have the right to slay anything feral and make some fortune out of them, and some worrysome villagers that are paranoid enough to hack anything unusual from their daily acquaintances...

"...Milord...?" the villagers uttered in question, while the mercenaries shut their mouths in dignified frowns.

"From what I've heard of your report, that kid was just defending himself from attackers, and some of them just forced him to take lethal actions to keep himself alive..." The Landlord shifted his eyes to the little bundle of chains and steel-wires, looking like a ragged bloody cocoon with large feral dead-eyes darkened with possibly a lot of pains other than assessment of danger around his limp immobile small body. The dog-mask on his face kept him unable to open his mouth much less to speak, he might even have breathing difficulty since they secured the iron-halfface of the dog-mask on, it was too big for his small face that the little holes on it didn't give much ventilation like it should. The harness was biting his face skin the Lord empathetically saw them bruising. And from the story he'd just heard, they kept him more than two weeks in that condition, unfed, and beaten, before they tought they'd bring the BEAST to his court. The dog-mask was usualy for death sentenced-prisoners or crazed/dangerous criminals or prisoner-of-war from long ago. The Landlord had a very disdainful thought of the use of those things, he'd even surprised that the thing still exist on his land. He glowered at the men in front of him.

Suddenly the right courtdoor flung open and a little girl about 12 with smoky light-blue long hair burst in with laughter. Her words of "Papa look what Deia made for..." cut short when she noticed the people in front of the court. With a small 'Oh' of acknowledgment she then curtsied to them in a ladylike manner.

There's a squeal of laughter followed behind her and a younger little girl with silvery light-purple hair done in a braid ran in and stopped on the spot when her eyes saw the ragged bundle on the floor. Her excessive large violet eyes widen at the sight, a small beautiful gasp was heard; and the whole court room held their breaths with her.

The flowery scent wind blew firmer with her entrance, at the moment it was the only thing seemed alive in the white-stoneroom. She blinked once never shifting her stare at the bundle, as if waking from a trance the others staring at her blinked too and resumed living. The little girl cocked her head to the side like a bird watching something with interest, then to other side measuring something only she could see. Her face had softened to a neutral expression, and her beautiful violet eyes twinkling with comprehension.

The Lord who kept his eyes at her from first sight like the others made a little exasperated noise and slapped his left hand to his forehead.

"...Lyea...!"

"I'm sorry, Papa dear. I tought it has nothing to do with this ordeal in your court..." the older girl spoke softly with a knowing smile, lifting a collar of prussian velvet ribbon and gemstones of the same hues in her hand, while her eyes kept trained to her younger sister.

"By the way, blue IS your hair color, Papa. I tought she made it as a joke to you..." Lyea flicked her eyes at her father who looked back at her with an eyebrow lifted.

"...A collar for me...? In that kind of fashion sense..." he spoke slowly to his wisened daughter who chuckled softly. Lady Lyea of The White Land of Archantra was known as a fair and wise little girl even from her early age of eight, which brought a mountain of proudness to the Lord. His younger daughter, Deia, was famous for her sunny and cheerfulness. Always a cynosure everywhere she went, The Light of Archantra, people called her. They're the Lord's treasures even more important than anything in the whole world, even from the world itself. Subtly, the Lord thanked his daughters for their sudden appearances in the heating courtroom. The stubborn and fearful people in front of him seemed to pause in the sudden brightness of his younger daughter. Deia has that kind of effect on everyone, in fact not just everyone but everything, the Fairs of spirits, the Voids of shadows, the animals, even the plants seemed to be drawn to her. Even the Spells! Which brought some waryness from the Lord... The drawn-thing is mutual!

"...Is that prussian color...?" came the soft melodious voice.

The Lord groaned low... Oh, here she goes..!

Deia glided to the front of the villagers and mercenary with such grace that people think she was floating on air, not stone floor. Even the trained mercenaries couldn't hear the sounds of her footsteps approaching.

She squated in front of the ragged bundle, much to the waryness of some fearful villagers, her white dress pooled around her slim body, with eyes never leaving the color that caught her interest from the first sight she casted on the courtroom.

"...It IS..." she breathed with delightful wonderment, her small white-hands brushed the bangs covering the eyes of the small dirty face, they were caked with blood and mud and others things that they felt crisp like dry-roots.

"MY Prussian..., yes, Father...?" she asked the Lord with a smile of confidance and eyes lighted with joy and possessiveness. That's her famous charm, even though she's dictating you, you wouldn't feel dictated and would have the feeling to give her the world instead.

"Deia..., you are aware that it's not a chimera..." the Lord spoke carefully, tough he knew it's a lost fight even before it began.

"...I'll take good care of it, clean it, heal it, feed it, train it that you have nothing to worry about, no one's going to recognize it as a Wild after my treatment, and I'll take full responsibility for everything it cause of any loss or ruckus, which you needn't to worry about, because it won't do anything disdainful to your concerns or anything that will bring any harm to anyone or anything, and it'll be the most gorgeous thing your eyes cast upon that you'd want to hug it, and squish it, and hope you could have it in your room just for eye-candy and dream of, and for security from any bad Fairs or Voids or Spells, it can even guard me from nightmares, I'll teach it carefully and toroughly you wouldn't have even its shadow to complain of..."

The Lord raised his right hand to silence her daughter's avalanche of words, despite the pleasantness that voice brought to your hearts upon hearing it, she usualy never stopped speaking before she gets what she wants. Even though the people in the court seemed to think it was cute of her clearly with their softened faces and small smiles, but the wrong kind of people might think of it as unrespectful and might take some wrong actions towards his spirited young daughter of age 10. And that's something he tried to ingrain to his Deia's mind for years, but along with her growth she just grew the more abillity to take a more longlasting breath to say longer rains of words. It didn't help any that she's a very impulsive persistent little angel that everyone yields to even before they think to argue to her wants, that's including himself of course.

"...He'd killed some people, Deia!"

"Good! That means it knows how to fight and can protect me from possible dangers..!" her even tone with neutral smile took the stings out of that statement; at least noone flinched, noted the Lord.

"Father, you know Crimson died of illness, and Black died taking the burnt of a Spell's wrath for me, and I had to set Viridian free because she couldn't survive the Air in here and..." the angelic face drooped with sadness, and people think that the wind blew soft whispers of symphaty around the stone room.

The Lord let out a deep sigh "That Wild is in bad condition to begin with..." and casted his eyes back at the ragged bundle.

The little girl faced back to the bundle slowly, as if not wanting to scare the ragged and tornt body cocooned by the heavy chains and steel-wires.

"Yes... It is..." she breathed with empathy. Her hands clasped the buckles of the harness on the back of the wild's head, and the steels gave a silent popping sound as they broke itselves to tiny pieces, and the harnesses loosened dramatically. The soft hands then took the dog-mask off of the abused face ever so tenderly. Some gasps of disapproval and fear came from the villagers as she stroked the discolored skin under the iron-halfface and harness's bruise prints. The large dead-eyes the color of deep prussian color bored at her eyes with unfearful wildness. She gazed back with heartful tenderness and a sad beautiful smile.

"...I'll set you right in notime... don't worry..." she said in deep whisper only meant for the Wild to hear. And loosing herself in contentment of softly stroking the abused dirty face in her hands.

"...Papa, dear. I'm sure you could find a kind heart in you to compensate these brave men for their courages of giving a present to my beloved sister, yes?" Lyea asked in a sweet tone '..despite how bad they've mistreated him...' she added to herself.

The Lord gave her a level look. After a few moment, he sighed in defeat.

"Deia, Honey, you could asked Odin for help..."

"YES!" the impulsive girl sprang to her feet instanly "Thankyou, Father, I won't regret it..!"

"Old-diiiiiiiiiinn...!" in a flash of white dress, she's gone from the stone room.

"It's 'Odin', Honey..." the Lord corrected automatically, "...What ..?" if he hadn't heard it wrong, she said 'I' not 'you'...

"It's a promise to herself that she will do her best to keep her words, Papa dear." Lyea interjected with a mediator smile. The Lord lifted his blue brows at her, and she smiled a bigger smile for reassurance.

The men looking at him with large eyes of expectance. After clearing his throat, the Landlord nodded, and promised them and others that are killed or wounded would be compensated quite an amount. But, he wouldn't let this mistreatment of other livingthing aside, either. Since the wildling wasn't dead –yet!-, he won't take a hard judgement on them right now. He made sure everyone related to this ordeal be recorded, and IF the wildling dies of the injuries and starvation they inflicted on him, they'd be punished then. He also assured them that he had the Charms in the Castile(1) who know all their actions and misdeeds to the wildling that would be revealed with or without their consents, so no use of lying or hiding by then.

"Be thankful to my daughters, Lyea here who helped you as mediator to my judgement.." the Lord frown, and Lyea just smiled and shake her head brushing off the gratitude her father pointed at her, "..and to Deia who saved you from punishments, as a matter of facts.. your wellbeing in the future relating to the wildling will be in her hands. If the wildling dies while she tries to mend him, it'll upset her greatly. You know how bad I'd feel if anything or anyone upsets any of my daughters..!" the Lord narrowed his eyes threateningly and a few villagers bowed their heads in fear and the mercenaries casted their gazes to the floor.

The squeal of joy rang trough the door again, and a bundle of angelic blurry-white ran to each of the men and hugged them at the waist exlaiming 'thank you' repeatedly. The men just gaped at the suddenness of it all, and as suddenly the joyful cheerfulness on her face replaced by solemn but stern calmness. Staring at each men's eyes for a few breathless moments.

"But I would like if none of the hard treatments to the Wilds on your part to continue anymore then what's been done today, please. If you happens to have difficulties with any of them, please just ask for the Charms's help, I'm sure they wouldn't have made any casualties and/or unpleasentness to both sides of yours and the Wilds as much as they could." Deia spoke in a level tone much older than her age.

"...The last chimera I tried to save had been abused so badly it died in my hands...!" she frowned at the memory of Crimson, her tone changed to a stony voice. Her shadow casted on the white-stone floor darkened slightly, and the wind stilled, and they swear they felt like standing on icefield that freezing their feet to the floor.

"But I'm sure we have an understanding on the matter, yes...?" she flashed them the most bright smile, and suddenly the freezing they felt melted to a warm late spring wind with flower scents from the garden outside. The stunned men nodded their heads somewhat dazedly and mumbled their agreements.

Deia nodded her acceptance and gave them a curtsey to dismiss them. The Lord gave them permission to leave the courtroom after that.

A moment later, a white haired knight came strolling in with an air of strength and compose. He nodded his respect to the Lord and Lyea before stopping his gaze at Deia who bounced frantically looking at her charge on the floor. "Old-din, hurry! He's dying..!"

A flash of recognition came to his eyes when he looked at the prussian eyes and battered face, along came wearyness and his soldier instinct screamed in alert, and in a second it's gone squelched by years of hardened disciplines.

He crouched to fast-examine the little ragged bundle. The skin felt so cold under his hand you might think it's already dead if not for the large dead-eyes assessing his every movement of his and the room surrounding them all at once. Odin sigh deeply and carefully lifted the bundle as gentle as he could, setting the dirty small head secured against his strong chest. He noted the dried blood had glued the kid's mouth shut, although he sure it wasn't all his own blood. The prussian eyes drooped a little, and Odin tried a small smile of assurance.

"...To my chamber..! I'll go fetch How-ward...!" Deia ran through the door again "How-WAAAAARRD...!" she called on the top of her lungs while running trough the corridors. And the Lord winced, while Lyea snorted softly with a patient smile and followed Odin to her younger sister's chamber to help. As always, Deia would be overdosed by her own energy to keep calm, much else to aid the necessary actions. She's such a comet-child, burning with energy in action..!

"...It's Howard, sister dearest..!" she mumbled to herself, and Odin chuckled softly at her side.

Once the ragged bundle being set on a cot in the corner of Deia's hexagonal-chamber, Lyea tried to clean the battered face as much as she could with a cloth and warm water, waiting patiently for her sister to burst trough the doors with burning energies. She gave kind smiles to him every once in while, noting that the exhausted large dead-eyes drooped more after feeling the security around him, despite the chains and steel-wires still cocooned his abused body. But he's already passed the painfull phase now, his strained weak breaths hitched to take much needed oxigent to his system.

"Have patience, please... Deia will free you soon, once Howard examine your body's compatibility with her Harmony; she's still too young to do that by herself now. If she accidentally killed you while trying to free you, she'd feel devastated and will blame herself... and we don't want that to happen, yes ..?" Lyea spoke softly with heartful tenderness. The prussian eyes grayed a little...

The Lanlord of the White Land of Archantra took Odin to the corner of the far crossing corridors at the outside of his younger daughter's chamber, to have a quiet talk of the situation, while he didn't want his said daughter to suddenly came across them in the conversation he wanted to hold with his trusted general and childhood friend.

"...Who is he...?" the Lord asked is a hushed voice. Odin lifted an eyebrow in question.

"I know recognition when I saw one, Odin! Now, spill...!" he frowned his blue brows in reaction.

"I never saw him before, Sire," Odin frown back his bleak-white brows. The Lord gave him a level look. After a few breaths, he asked solemnly

"...Outsider? ..an OWL, maybe...?" Out-World Out-Law (OWL) were the fugitive colonies guerrilla-ing in the undergrounds on the Wild-lands outside the many Lorded-lands. His secluded White Land of Archantra was one of the most isolated land on the Major-Soil, that most tresspassers of the not-natives would avoid to enter. Mostly because of the unique-athmosphere inside the Stratus of the White Land of Archantra that is poisonous to most living things that weren't born inside, thus made a necessary usage of certain Spell to protect them from the Air. But a few races of outsiders have the ability to survive in there, by natural immune-systems, or magical things such as talismans or chants or Spells, or other things they specifically possessed. The OWLs were infamous by their distinctful strength and some mysterious abilities they used to prey on others. That's why the villagers were so fearful and paranoid of the Wilds, since the villagers lived on the outer circle of the land near the boundaries to the Forest that circling The White Land of Archantra. The Wilds, were the living beings mostly halve-creatures such as chimeras which taking nomadic habitats somewhere in the forest area and the outside of the land and Stratus.

Odin looked thoughtful but hesitant at the same time. He searched his Lord's eyes, finding his lifetime friend in them, he nodded. "...I think he's an outsider, but OWL or not, I'm not sure... Once he's cleaned and look better I might find more resemblance to any race I know.."

The Lord nodded minutely in apprehension, eyes trained on a tiny crack on the wall across him. "...North..?" His voice barely a whisper, but Odin heard him nonetheless.

"Might be.."

"Natives or nomads?"

"Dark hair could mean both, though the natives of the North have more darker hues, soil-colored hues are not uncommon of them nowadays..." Odin reply softly

"...But?" the Lord prompted

"But..." Odin exhaled a deep sigh trough his nose, "..Bright eye-colors like his usually come with a package!" The natives of Archantra usually have light eye colors, ranging from light-hues of blue to green or lighter colors of the owner's hair-colors to grey or smoky-white, the Charms usually have distinctive eyes-color of pearly-white or mirrory-white that people who's not familiar with them might think that they were blind.

The Lord nodded his agreement to that opinion, "He gave me the chills in the courtroom, freezing cold that even my Spell couldn't able to shield of..." That's the other reason why the villagers freaked out of the wildling.

"I felt it too, Sire...Not stronger than Lady Deia's, but different!" he shifted his gaze to where his Lord's land on too, the tiny crack on the far wall. "If he's a nomad on his own, then there's strong possibility he's a deserter of the OWLs..."

The Lord's blue brows rose almost to his blue hairlines, "...Escapee..!" he asked in surprise

"Could be abandoned. From what I learned of the OWLs, they have a very strong custom to kill the children of their preyed natives..."

Now, 'preyed' could mean anything in a wide range... "Preyed.. as in abducted and..." The Lord trailed off his words on purpose.

"Yes. Some OWL colonies reported to have the habits of taking the maiden-preys with them...But the offsprings of the maidens, even born in their colonies, are usually..." Odin frown in disgust, he's not most people would call a paternal man, but he scorned the idea of killing such small infants unable to defend themselves, or abusing women.

"...So, he could be half-OWL! ...Or not ...!" the Lord shrugged in an unlordy manner, "Let's not jumping on our own conclusions, and just take things slowly as they presented themselves, shall we?"

Odin smiled back at the boyish-smile his Lord gave him, and nodded. When they were children, the Lord always treated him like a big brother, and Odin mutually loved him like a little brother. Sometimes his Lord showed him that fragment of the little brother he dearly loved.

...A little girl's shrieks of horror jumped them to a run to Deia's chamber in a haste.

There on floor, lied the cocooned bundle of battered boy drenched with fresh blood coming from the boy's mouth and nose. Deia was at his side sat on a heap of hysterical form being embraced by her elder sister trying to calm her down. Her front of white dress was spattered with blood, and tears flooding from her eyes.

"What happened!" the Lord kneeled in front of his daughters, in hope to distract his hysterical Deia from the scene of the bleeding and unconscious boy.

"...Hhhow... Howh.." the smaller girl stuttered breathlessly between choked gasps. Lyea shushing her softly putting her lips to her right temple.

"Howard couldn't make it here right away, and Deia thought to try to relief some pain he's obviously in.." Lyea spoke silently.

"...I waa... I.. I was ... j...was j-just... waa..nt to... too..." The Lord hugged her quaking small body comfortingly

"Shhhhh... It's okay. It's not your fault... He's going to be alright... He's strong. It's okay..." subtly the Lord hoped what he's saying is true, because he's not sure himself by his sweet words, wishing hard for them to be true. His Spell only works for protections and not mending nor healing.

Odin crouched above the ragged bundle, trying to assess the injuries of the unconscious boy who took deeper ragged breaths now. To his relief, the blood had ceased gushing from his mouth and nose. Deia must have pressed out the blood pooled in his throat behind the dried blood that glued the boy's mouth, and freed his windpipe to have better performance... at least that's what Odin hoped had happened, not some bleeding of internal injuries worsen.

Deia calmed down to silent sobs in her father's and sister's embrace, though her eyes unfocus as if trying to see trough his father's chest to her Prussian's prone body.

Lyea whispered softly next to her right ear over and over..

"...don't cry..., Dearest... don't cry..." repeatedly, while Deia's lips seemed to try to follow the subtle words only meant for her, but no sound came out.

"...Dearest, don't cry... shhhh... Boys don't cry..." (2) Lyea's last words calmed the sobbing small body dramatically...

**Note:**

(1) Castile... nothing to do with the Kingdom of Castile in Spain, just the name of the castle they lived in. Saru made it like the way it's sounded in saru's language 'kastil' only with different spelling

(2) Alright...may be most of you had guessed why Lyea said it, and the reason why she said it to Deia... No?

Anyway, Saru couldn't find the space to describe it, but Lyea's hair is waist-long and styled in a single spiral-weave on her rightside (since she was left-handed), with a few white velvet-ribbon weaved in it.

While Deia's hair set in a hip-long braid on her leftside, weaved with black velvet-ribbons.

Almost everything in Archantra is white including the clotches of the citizens too, since the unique land could only produce white things of natural resources, i.e: trees, weeds, plants, rocks, sands, animals, and other things. Contrastly, the people's hair colors are evolved to unusual hair-colors, such as blue, green, purple, pearly-white, etc; and nomore usual colors such as blond, brunet/brown, or black.

It will be explained more with the story's progress.


	2. violet

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku may 21, 2006 **

**Disclaimer** : G-boys NOT Saru's...story n concept, though...hehehh

** 2 violet**

"...Boys don't cry... Boys don't cry...!" Lyea repeated the words several more times. Ever so slowly the silvery light-purple head secured to the father's chest turned to her face, the large stricken violet eyes searched her eyes. Lyea smiled assuringly and nodded at her once, Deia gave a miniature nod in return. Took a deep breath and let it out slowly though tremblingly. She rubbed her eyes with her sleeved hands rather hastyly, as if angry at herself for even crying.

After a few sniffs to clear her nose, she asked in a quiet calm voice laced with resolution. "How is he..?"

The other knowingly noted that she reffered to the boy as 'he' now, not 'it' like she did in the white-stone courtroom. Odin flicked his eyes to her for a moment and stared back at the boy.

"He takes deeper breaths now.."

Deia gave a sniff, before crawling out of the embrace of her father and sister. She leaned on her small hands to look at the boy's face, but seemingly afraid to make physical contact that she would unpurposely make another incident. The bruised face now had slackened in unconscious sleep, the contorted shocked face filled with more pain than what he physically had burnt in her mind, and she desperately tried to blink it off, vowing to make the abused boy better than ever as soon as she could.

"How-ward's here..." she whispered quietly. The Lord searched him with his Spell, knowing Howard the head of the Castile's Charms will give him affirmation waves as answer, while Odin touched his talisman-sword's hilt to feel familiar waves in the place of reports from the Charms in near vicinities. The waves confirmed them that Howard was still in the outer circle of the Castile, so it will take him some time to reach Deia's chamber. "...Five minutes, fourty-six heartbeats..." she uttered most likely to herself.

Exactly five minutes fourty-six seconds later Howard knocked at the black wooden doors and let himself in before anyone answered. His bright-red with big floral designs shirt gave a speck of color to the all-white decored room. With a brief nod to everyone in the chamber, he proceeded without a word to examine the bundle of heavy chains and steel wires. Though anyone unfamiliar with him would just say he's staring at the bundled-object with the interest of watching insects on the ground collecting their food in a very un-Charms-ly manner, since he squated down near the feet protruding from the bundle of chains, slumped down hugging his own knees with his chin rested on them. One of his grayish white brows rose behind his spectacles of clear black-crystals.

Making a small noice of interest, Howard lowered his spectacles to his nose. His bright pearly-white eyes shimmered a second, before he placed his spectacles back up. "...He's quite a bundle of package, isn't he...?"

Shifting his gaze to Deia, he asked in level tone "Did you lost your control with your Harmony ?"

The girl widened her eyes with horrified expresion at him. "No, no..., Lady Dee.." Howard rubbed a hand to his hairless top of head "What I mean is, did someone or something took control of your Harmony while you tried to lessen his suffering"

Deia blinked once and looked at her hands propping her body on the white-floor. Now that she cleared her minds...Without a say, Deia brought her hands up toward the old Charms. Howard let up a hand to brush the Air around the small hands presented to him, and he frowned in dissaproval "...Huuh.. You're cold, girl..!"

"Cold ?" the Lord touched his daughter hand with the tip of his fingers "Heavens ! Honey, you're freezing..!" he exclaimed gathering the small hands in his much bigger hands rubbing them.

"Spell's wrath..?" Odin tried to scan anything dangerous trough his talisman-sword, but the white alloy didn't give him much assessment other than unfamiliar vibes. "No, I don't think so... But it has its own will !" Howard rubbed his chin.

"...It feels like... touching somekind of ... cold metal..." Deia frowned in concentration "...pliant cold metal.."

"...almost liquidlike metal..!" she searched the old Charms' -practically her tutor- eyes.

"...Fairs..!" Howard rosed his brows up. Fairs of spirits were known to be elemental, most of the known at least. But he never heard of elemental spirit that have more than one elemental characterization such as liquid-metal.

"yes... But they're different..!"

"They..?" the Lord frowned in awareness, Odin scrunched his face. Two elemental Fairs possessed one body was mostly wouldn't lead to something pretty.

Deia nodded convulsively "I felt a strong pull and rejection at the same time..!"

"One of the Fairs must be incompatible with your Harmony..." the Lord commented off handedly

"Yes ! ...No..!" Deia twisted her face in depression for not able to describe what she wanted to tell. "It's one reaction..! And it's Fair's but not of Fairs...!" she exhaled a large depressed sigh after that and clamped her mouth shut, not wanting to deliberate anymore. She just wanted to help her Prussian, badly.

"Fairs' power but not of Fairs...?" Howard straightened his body at that. "...I see..." after a few moment he kneeled at his spot "Alright ! I'll see if I could adjust my Harmony to try to counterbalance the opposing reactions, and get this young man free..!" he said smiling to the small lady, who in turn brightened a bit and gave him a big worry smile.

"...The pull you mentioned... Was it acceptance..?" Howard's face hardened to seriousness a bit.

"... No, ... more like..." Deia shifted her stare at the boy's face for a moment before bore them to Howard's again "...acknowledgment...searching !"

"Familiarization.." Howard said to himself, nodding minutely.

"He's a half-kind, isn't he..." at that the Lord shrugged for answer. Then Howard nodded once at the people whose eyes were fixed on him, and they obediently backed off to a save distance. Howard took a pose of someone who prays, with his palms flat on each tigh, and his face slackened to an impassive mask.

After some moments, he opened his eyes halfways. The bright pearly-white eyes shimmered momentarily trough his black-crystals spectacles. The heavy chains cocooning the boy's body rattled a little, then broke at some points of links, then settled. Howard closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and continue the procession for several times. Once he sure the heavy chains had no longer restraining the boy's body, he tapped his hands to his tighs once. The broken-links chains gave a clinking noises for a second and burst to nothing.

Deia let out a breath she didn't aware of holding, and took a few gasps. The battered body presented under the evaporated chains was beyond nightmare. She let out a small whimpering noise, while Lyea covered her mouth with both hands to stiffled any noise that might come out. Odin let out a hissing noise, while the Lord just thinned his lips and gathered his stiffened younger daughter to his arms.

The boy's small body was covered in muddy dried blood that manage to hide all bruises under it so perfectly, he wore only a ragged loincloth that caked to his skin. The steel wires were presumably something from some snares that trapped him, and some added to restrain him purposely. Likely, the mercenaries or hunters put the heavy chains over the wires for more insurance. The steel-wires were so tightly strained that they even bit trough his flesh, blood oozed and dried-pooled from many holes on his body. Stakes wounds, Odin noted, must be from some firing devises or bull-crossbows. Cuts, scraps, punctures, slashes, and other kinds of wounds with varied sizes were everywhere. He didn't even want to think if the kid had broken bones. Definitely not human if he could survive the state of sufferings he's in.

One of the boy's hand was twisted on his chest in an odd angle, seemed trying to prevent the wires from strangling his neck. The other one was restrained at his side and bent a little to the back, the knuckle was gripped so tightly that his own nails had drawn blood from the punctured palm.

Howard blew a hard breath suddenly from bluished lips. Trying to divert their attentions from the horror a little. "...Boy, that's quite a blow...!" he said shakyly, and let out a nervous chuckle. His breath fogging in front of his face.

The others took a look at him and widened their eyes in apprehension. "Nothing too radical...! Only a little foggy breaths...!" he brushed them off immediately.

"...But I think I could only break the wires to parts, they're biting through his flesh. And I don't want to risk any physical damage whilst contradiction of his power with my Harmony should occur !" at the few nods he received, he continued.

"...Alright ! This should be fast...!" he hummed a little and after a few moments he clapped his hands together one time, and the wires broke to parts. But some of them were still deep in the boy's flesh, glued with dried blood. Howard resumed with some brushes of the Air around the prone body. After he's satisfied with his assessment, he nodded and like flash Lyea handed him the new heated water and wash cloths. Deia squirmed from his father's hands leaning near the boy's head, watching Howard and Odin trying to wash off the stickies and parts of broken wires from his body before they could assess more of the boy's injuries so that they can savely remove him to more comfortable place than the floor. The soft utter of the Lord's of "Don't touch him, Honey.." was ignored as she repeatedly chanted "..Be safe... Be safe..." in whispers.

"...Will you look at that...!" Howard said slowly in wonderment pointing to the boy's chest once the twisted hand had been removed to a more comfortable position. There was a crafted plate on the boy's breastbone to the collarbones under his skin, making a crafted-V-like embossed pattern of the skin. The craft-plate was definitely symbols of somekind, the elegant small curves were done in details.

"...Void-crafts...!" The Lord and Odin asked at the same time.

"May be..." Howard said distractedly while his right hand brushed the Air above the craft-plate. He ouch-ed a little and snatched back the hand. "...That's what had frozen your hands, Lady Dee..!"

"So he had a Talisman to protect him, at least..." the Lord frown, not sounded happy at the fact. -That's why the villagers and hunters, especially the mercenaries, made such brutal actions to take him down..-

"Hmm, yes it's protecting him in someways. His body would have yield in his kind of state, the craft-plate contains such of vital-powers that keep him alive. But, it's not a Talisman !"

Odin and the Lord frowned at the old Charms. "...It's a part of him...!" Deia said quietly.

Startled, The Lord exclaimed "I've never heard a Void-crafts that could blend physically with any other kind of races ...!"

"...If it's done in an infant state or even new-born..." Howard thinking aloud slowly.

"But Void-crafts are immaterial..! How could you blend something immaterials with materials..!"

"...Some of the Void-crafts are materials... More exact, they can be materialized at will by the Voids. Or else, they wouldn't be feared as much as they are now if the things can't be touched by other-kinds.." Odin said.

"...But..." the Lord frowned deeper.

"...He must be half-Voids." Lyea spoke matter-of-factly with calm.

"But I've never heard of half-Voids before...!" this time Odin contradicted.

"Just because anything's never heard of, doesn't mean it's not exist..!" Howard reasoned.

Deia just stared at the boy's face and continued repeatedly her whispered chants, when suddenly the boy's eyes flew open and his right hand grabbed her dress' collar and threw her small body across the chamber, which collided with the bookracks with unthinkable strength and dropped to the floor in a heap of white dress and books and splinters of the white-wooden racks. The boy used it as divertion for he fled in blurry blackened-crimson flash to the slide-glass-door far from where the others were, which was the one aligned with the sidewalls where Deia had been thrown.

"NOOOOOOO...!" Lyea jumped to her feet with both hands stretched wide in front of the three men ready to attack. She knew they're cappable of striking their target in less than half a second. "Deia's fine ! Surprised and a little bruised may be, but I'm sure she's fine, she's not made of glass..! And this kind of risk is also part of her responsibility she's taken!"

There was a buzzing sound and a flicker of bright wave rippled on the glass surface as the boy's hand touched it. He let out a surprised yelp as his hand had been stung, and fled to the opposite wall from the window. Then crouched under the corner-table near Deia's body. That brought the three men to their new built waryness.

"There's a chamber-Spell planted in here, you couldn't enter or exit without the chamber owner's consent..!" Lyea spoke calmly to the boy, while her eyes held the men's eyes with assurance trying to confide them.

It worked, after a while the men's rigid postures were slackened a bit, but at least they didn't seem going to strike by a mere movement of their target anymore. Lyea nodded to them in gratitude once. Then turned around to face the boy, who stared at them with wide wild-eyes darkened with anticipation of oncoming attack from the surrounding dangers. He looked a little younger than Deia, may be by a year or two.

"Deia..!" Lyea spoke slow and softly, kneeled at her spot, trying to give the wary boy assurance that they were not going to intrude his space "You okay, Dearest..!"

The body didn't budge, but a low moan could be heard, followed with soft utterance "...I felt like flying...!"

That brought a chuckle from her sister "You did, Dearest... Altough I wouldn't say you had smooth landing..!" At that Howard snickered.

"...Uuuuhhh.., okay ! Laught it up, why don't you... May be you could give me applause too so I could give you an encore, huh, How-wie...!" The Lord roled his eyes, while Howard chuckled "She's okay !"

The heap between books and splinters didn't move, but one violet eye could be seen from between smooth strands of silvery light-purple that freed when the long plait had come loose. The violet eye stare at the wide prussians not two meters away with heartful gaze. The boy's eyes flicked between the other occupants and the heap near him a few times, but when he countered the heartfull gaze of one violet eye, he seemed stilled and calmed after a while.

They stared at each other's eyes for sometime longer, Deia's eye drooped a little with tender smile on her face, the boy's eyes lost their immediate readyness for danger and his taut rigid body relaxed some levels. Then Deia slowly straightened her body from the floor and gave the boy a bigger smile. The boy, never broke eye contact, use his right back-hand to wipe the wet blood from his mouth.

"Don't..." Deia gave a small gasp and without thinking moved and wiped the wet bloody mouth with the thing in her hand at the time, which was a handfull of silvery light-purple long strands. The boy's eyes widened a little with surprise "We don't want your wounds to get worse, do we...?" she asked softly, noting there were still a few circles of wires embedded deep in his arms.

The boy seemed to registered her concern and looked at his arms, then his eyes looked back at her eyes in front of his face. "I'll fix you...!" she said with warm sincerity. His eyes never leaving hers when his right hand reaching blindly to a fruit knife on the floor from where the bowl of fruits had been knocked by a flung book.

The gesture brought back alarms to the three men. Deia brush it off with a soft "It's okay..!" that directed at all of the chamber's occupants including the boy. And flashed a spring-bright smile to him. The boy backed his head a bit out of her hand and a handful of hair. With cautions of the men, he slid forcefully the thin small blade of the fruit knife under the wires at his left wrist that hadn't broken. The action pulled the wire tighter at its dried-gash that it's started to drip anew. Then his fingers gripped the hilt and the blade's dull-edge with the wires between his index and middle finger, turned the wrist, and there's a popping sound of wires broken softly. Odin frowned, that's something like military or hunter's skills.

"Here, let me..." Deia used her hair still in her hand again to wipe the blood from the wrist. "What's there in your grip..?"

The boy looked at her face for a moment, surprised by the soft question, then back to where her eyes stared at. The fingers quivered a little, then twitched open slowly acompanied with small cracked sounds either from the dried blood or fractured bones grated. The thing caked to the palm in crusted blood was "Oh, two human fingers..!" she took it carefully, and the boy hissed a little, the needele-sharp teeth ligning his mouth covered with blood was a sight. "Don't worry, we won't do anything to you because of these...!" she smiled, and off handedly threw them behind her back.

"There, we'll peel the rest of the wires out carefully while the others will examine your injuries on somewhere more comfortable, what do you think...? I promise noone will attack or hurt - ..." Deia blinked once at the small body that dropped on her laps. He was unconscious once again, the fruit knife still gripped tightly in his right hand. The others rushed to her side quietly, and Howard automatically brushed the Air to examine him. Deia looked at his eyes with deep concern.

"He's exhausted ...!" Howard smiled reassuringly, and carefully lifted the small battered body.

"Put him on my bed..!" Deia rushed softly. Howard stopped, gave her questioning glance, and proceeded as she wished.

The prussian eyes momentarily opened a slit when he was lain on the soft white bed, searching dazedly for something. Two violet amethysts answered his prussians for a second before they closed again, burning amethyst color of violet to his last conscious mind.


	3. rectrix

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku may 23, 2006**

**Disclaimer** : G-boys NOT Saru's...story n concept, though...hehehh

** 3 rectrix**

It had been a very exhausting and depressing long week for everyone aquainted to the small dying boy. Howard and some of the Charms had been simultaneously trying to stabilize the unconscious boy's deteriorated body for the first few days, while the rejection from within the boy had taken the toll on either of them also. It was like fighting the tug of war which lead to loss of either parties. For some improvements there were always some contradictions followed that noone knew if it was amended or worsen his state.

On the fifth day, the boy had awaken somewhat. Deia was always at his side days and nights, much to everyone's corcerns, especially the Lord, there was something that his Spell detected between them, some sort of connection, but he couldn't place it. The boy had been better looking to some degrees, and he tried muttering something unintelligible to her. He'd leaned towards Deia's hand stroking his face for a few blissed moments when suddenly his body shaken convulsively and blood started leaking from his nose. She screamed for help in waves of Harmony to the Charms and held his quaking body, while the seizures got worsen and he spewed out blood all over them both. When Howard and the others came, she was chanting "...be safe...be safe..." over and over, and distractedly refused to let go the small body she held like a lifeline, they couldn't even pry her off of him. They were pressed to stabilize the boy with Deia holding him, but somehow the maneuver worked better to synchronize the Harmony from the many Charms. When the boy had colapsed to unconscious sleep once again, Deia had fallen to his side, asleep, exhausted bodyly and mentally. Her right hand draped over the boy's craft-plate in a possessive gesture. Lyea came some moments later after the ordeal passed from the underground library, trying to search something from the ancestor's chambers and literatures about the circumstances. She knew heartily that there's something going on between the boy and her dearest little sister...or _not-sister_. They had slept for two days in that position, while Deia woke up on the seventh morning asking sleepily for something to eat with grumbling stomach.

After almost a month of healing and mending and Harmonizing, the boy had been conscious enough for the most times of a day. They never encountered the boy's elemental powers, but the craft-plate's power somehow rejected their Harmony at some levels, as if it has the mind and apprehension of its own towards the Charms. Howard and a few other Charms once had been thrown to the walls by its violent rejection, when they tried to Harmonize the boy without Deia's presence due to some circumstances. Nothing too radical, Howard said, they're just cold to the core and had to have a boiling bath for a couple of days –not that they were going to bath together, of course; that had brought a small laughter from the worried girl. Eitherway, they'd adapted to similar incidents from Deia's childhood when she couldn't control her Harmony, much to her guilt of the memory.

The Charms couldn't examine the boy's internal injuries, that what had depressed Howard the most, first the rejection from the craft-plate, and second was some blockage from within the boy that contradicted the rejection of the craft-plate. The former he could presumed why, but the later was bothering him and others greatly, including the Lord and Odin. It was something like Deia had described the first time, Fairs' but not of Fairs. Something they've never known of, and Odin was the one most anxious about the fact. His military educations had taught him to recon things before encountering them, the not-knowing of the unfamiliarity and the incapability to investigate it was making him agitated.

The boy seemed to want to have some real food today, anything other than more Harmony. Everyone who took care of him knew he had contradictions with it, while usually the Charms' Harmony could heal a dying person in only a few Harmonizing episodes.

Deia fed him some broth and fruit puree. His condition had improved greatly after that day. He could eat more solid food, and most of the bandages could be removed from his healing outer-wounds, and he could stand and walked a short distance on his own. They dressed him in a white tunic long enough to reach the floor that Deia thought it's cute, utterly unbearably cute. And they think it's just about time that she'd dressed him with anything she could think of.

The boy showed his wild side in some or more ways. He used to sniff at people before letting them near him or lick their hand once before letting them touch him, Howard said it was his way of knowing other's intentions and acts, much as their charms worked. He never said anything other than hissing to strangers and krrrrrrrrck-ing sound from his throat in acknowledgment of Deia's presence, someday she expected to hear may be purring sound developed from that krrrrck-ing.

His hair was, of the color of outsider-wood as Odin's words, brown and messy sticking to every directions. And he seemed to be interested in Deia's hair, he usually played and sniffed at it for hours but she didn't seem to mind, like she would at any other people, besides Lyea who used to comb and braid it for her. Instead, the behaviour seemed to boost her confidence to pamper the smaller boy. Howard swore she's going to spoil him rotten sooner or later.

On the seventh week, the Lord encountered Deia after her and Lyea's tutorial session with Howard. Now that the boy, -Prussian as she called him, while behind her back people still called him the Beast- was getting almost recovered completely, she could continue her lessons again every a few hours a day. The Lord asked her to have him moved to the room adjacent to her chamber rather than occupying the same room and bed, he didn't say it outright but he'd heard some servants talking about it.

Deia refused, of course "...He's like a little brother to me, Father. Even if to most people I act as if I treat him like a pet..! You know I know he's not one!"

After somemore reasoning and coaxing, the little girl still adamantly refused, then the irritated Lord said the one piercing word to her. "Deia..! He's a boy...!"

Deia became livid at hearing that, using the telephatic Charms only directed for his Spell to catch Deia screamed in fury. "And so AM I ..!" (1)

The Lord frozen and widened his eyes as if had been slapped at the face. His face redddened in anger glaring at his little _girl_, who glowered back at him with leveled rage in indignant pose, the small hands clutched at either sides of the white dress in balled tight fists.

After some times of glaring, the Lord hissed in low tone, trying to ease his anger. "...Deia...!"

Hearing _her_ name, Deia let loose the balled fists, and slackened _her_ angry scowl to stony calm mask. _She_ dropped _her_ gaze to the floor after a while, and after a minute _she_ gave a curtsey to the Lord and turn to leave without a word.

The Lord watched _her_ back until _she_'s gone from sight by the intersection of the coridors. He hit the wall fuming, but didn't manage to calm himself. Lyea who had been watching the affair a few meters behind, laid a soft hand to her father's arm with a tender smile on her face. The Lord let out an explosive sigh, then looked down at his daughter's face, who only gave him a bigger smile. It worked better than any comforting words at the time.

"...I never had a son, Lyea..." his voice was barely a whisper when he spoke to her. She just put her father's hand at her cheek and covered it there with her smaller hand, and shook her head slowly with a sad appologetic smile.

He brushed her cheek with his thumb for a while. "Never had one...!" He said a little firmer, dropped his hand from her face, and leave, as always if this kind affair should occur, to her mother's tomb.

Deia made large steps in seething fury, purposely taking the farthest circling route to _her_ chamber. Walking in the maze-like coridors and stairs of the white-stone Castile was always managed to give _her_ some calm back. But this time it only made _her_ more angrier as _she_ neared the destinated room.

The (late) Lady of Archantra was a kindhearted woman even too much for her own good, _she_ thought. Sometimes _she_ felt remorse at her, sometimes _she_ felt grateful and repentantly abhor _her_self for ever having remorseful thought of her. But, if only she would have just left _her_ to _her_ own demise 10 years ago, then _she_ wouldn't have felt what _she_ felt right now. Anger, discontent, dejected, envy, and so much more negative feelings that _she_ couldn't feel free to express. No, _she_ had to be sunny and cheerful and make people call _her_ The Light of Archantra all the time...!

'...Boys don't cry..! ...Boys don't cry...!' Deia chanted in _her_ heart to calm _her_self down, only feeling much worse by the sentence every time it's repeated.

_She_ yanked open the door and banged it close in a very rude manner. Prussian was crouching at the corner near the window, and jumped in surprise at _her_ sudden and rude appearance.

_She_ practically ignored him and threw _he_rself on the bed, and stayed there unmoving for a very long time.

Prussian krrrrrrck-ed at _her_ a few times, not getting any response he usually had, not even a glance. He quietly watch _her_ from where he crouched, waiting for anything. Sometime later, Deia's right hand caught something soft under the pillow Prussian usually slept on. _She_ slowly pulled it out and looked at it. It was a long white feather. _She_ studied it for a while, noting there was a speckle of dried blood at the tip of the feather's stem. _She_ frowned. _Her_ anger have not dissipated still, but _her_ curiousity had been piqued.

"...What's this, Pru...!" _she_ asked in a low voice that known only by _her_self. Prussian pricked a little at hearing the difference of the voice he usually heard from Deia.

Deia flipped the pillow roughly, but didn't find anything else under Prussian's pillow. _Her_ frown deepened, and _she_ snatched _her_ own pillow violently it flown to the floor. Under it _she_ found many white feathers, mostly long feathers, the rectrices of birds _she_ recognized by the width of the feathers. They were of many sizes, must be from many sources, Deia noted. They had small specks of dried blood on each of its stem and some of them still had fresher ones.

"...What's this, Prussian...!" Deia asked again in low annoyed tone that Prussian sagged in his crouching position upon hearing the anger that barely hidden in her voice. His wild prussian eyes searched _her_ demeanor in waryness.

_Had he made mistakes? Had he made the violet-eyed human angry at him? Didn't the violet-eyed human pleased with the gifts he put under the human's pillow?_(2) His small fingers clenched frantically in nervousness under his too long tunic sleeves.

_Was the human going to reject him now..? Or worse, hurt him for punishments or even kill him, like the other humans had tried..? What should he do? Be still or flee? Or should he say something..? Purring, may be...he'd heard the violet-eyed human said something about it once, he never heard it but he guessed he could try now to do what the human had described as cat's sound of contentment, had heard the human mimicked it with tongue-sound, although he never felt content before he'd seen cats before..._ he'd tried to do it once when the violet-eyed human stroked his hair to pet him when he's still in bad condition, but he only managed to choked a little and krrrrrck-ed again.

_He could do it now_, he thought, _it will pleased the violet-eyed human and he won't be rejected again_. He took a deep breath and tried to compromise his throat to prepare it to...

"PRUSSIAN...!" the sudden exclamation slumped him to the wall in surprise. The violet eyes boiled in anger bore at his, and his breath hitched in his throat. _What should he do? What should he do? _His eyes searched Deia's in panic.

"Did you...Preyed on birds outside of my chambers..." Deia spoke in a deliberatly slow threatening voice and moved toward him, towering his slumped posture on the floor. "...And put the feathers under MY pillow...!" Now that _she_ thought of it, _she_ didn't aware of the sounds of bird's chirping outside _her_ chamber that had lessened more and more everyday.

_They were to chase away your nightmares...! The rectrices..._ Prussian thought frantically, knowing the violet-eyed human was undeniably outraged at him. He sagged deeper on his spot.

"...And I thought I had you safe in MY chamber, secured you and protected you from the harms outside with MY charms, ...and you dare preyed on the birds outside MY ballcony, outside MY CHARMS... WITHOUT MY CONSENT..!" Deia hissed and raised _her_ voice _she_ practically exploded the last words in fury. _Her_ posture was rigid and dark auras swirled around _her_ body, _her_ shadow casted on the white floor from the light streaming down the window darkened dramatically. The amethyst-violet eyes burnt to black in raging darkness..

_Danger...!_ The boy's mind screamed in fright, his craft-plate in his chest burned with unbearable cold and his breaths stung his insides in agonizing pains.

With eyes wide with fear, the boy watched Deia's right hand lifted toward him with the blackness writhed around it, and threw the thing he held under his long tunic sleeve at _her_ face, and jumped through the window and to the ground four storeys down. There was a loud crashing sound followed with the sound of bursting electrical surge as the small boy plunged through the chamber-Spell surrounding Deia's chamber. The electrical waves still rippled on the Air's surface from where the boy's body had took fled, Deia stared at the spot with narrowed black-furied eyes. The wind around her swirling like small-tornado and scattered the chamber to chaos, the electrical surge roaring on the Air's surface like stormy water tides.

...After quite sometimes, the wind ceased, the tidal waves of the Air surrounding the chamber ebbed, things that caught in the swirling tornado dropped to the floor circling the spot where Deia stood still like a frozen statue with freezing calmness.

When the waves calmed to nothing, the breeze from outside blew again passed the barier of the chamber-Spell. It caressed Deia's frozen pose with warm early-summer air, the multy-colored light(3) from outside the window glass casted multy-colored light refractions on the floor, as if trying to dissipate the blackness of Deia's shadow.

Cold violet eyes flicked down on a blackened charcoal near _her_ feet, from where the burnt smell wafted in the breeze, thin smoke still drifted from the thing, a few small white feathers scattered around it. It was a bird Prussian had thrown at _her_, burnt by _her_ black auras before it could hit _her_ body physically. Deia stared long at the combusted object. The blackened thing didn't get to scattered by the wind because it was in the inside circle of the small tornado's wrath.

But the feathers from _her_ bed were scattered everywhere around _her_. Some of them in front of _her_ were blown by the breeze from the open window, and caressed _her_ feet gently. Deia didn't have to spread out her Harmony so _her_ charms could read what had happened, _she_ knew _her_ Prussian had killed the birds outside the chamber and ate them to hide the bird's remains, _she_ knew _her_ Prussian had high pain-tolerance and had gained enough strength to withstand the surge of electrical waves from the chamber-Spell, _she_ knew what the feathers had meant...they were gifts from _her_ Prussian to chase away _her_ nightmares he knew _she_ had when one night he 'd woken up by _her_ soft sobs and writhings in the claws of nightmare exactly 9 nights ago, and the next day he'd started to preyed on birds for their rectrices, ignoring the stinging of the chamber-Spell... for _her_...

He'd had breathing difficulty after that first bird-hunt through the chamber-Spell, and his insides had felt like incinerated, he'd remorsefully killed the bird with one snap of its neck, and reluctantly ate it after he took its rectrices and put them under _her_ pillow, mindful of the blood on his small hands. He felt very bad after that, vomited dry heaves and gagged for hours, his whole body aching like it's on fire. When Deia came to pet him he'd tried a small krrrck and had to swallow hard the urge to gag. Deia remembered he'd been quiet and less responsive that day, and _she_ didn't use _her_ Charms to find out why.

Now, even that _she_ knew of what had really happened, _she_ didn't feel any remorse nor grateful... _She_ only felt empty, and the void of blackness eating _her_ heart and soul from the inside, swallowed all feelings of anger and all else and left _her_ bereft. _She_ just stood there and stared at the charcoaled bird sometimes longer.

Lyea found two patrol-guards knocking at the black-wooden doors, trying to coax the occupant to open the doors.

"What's wrong..?" she asked them softly as to not startle them. The guards gave her nods of respect, and told her that they heard loud sounds from her _sister_'s chamber.

Lyea knew sometimes when Deia had difficulty to control _he_r emotions _she_ would lash out at _her_ surroundings, in someplace alone and secluded from others. She knew too that after the arguments with their father Deia would be in a very bad tempers, but _she_ had never lashed them out in _her_ room. More over, Deia had Prussian in there now. The possibility didn't give her easy minds.

"I'll take care of it..." she dismissed the guards, who gave her hesitated stares for a while, and nodded and leave, thinking that if ever there was danger then the Charms would have been there before them in the first place.

"Deia,...open the door, please" she called softly. No answer.

"...Dearest...please let me in..." she called firmer. Still nothing.

When Lyea lifted her hand going to pound on the only black-wooden doors in the Castile, the said doors clicked open a slit. She waited a moment before pushing the doors open. The chaotic view of the chamber greeted her entrance. Fast assessment gave her no sight of the small boy, only Deia who stood still near the far window with _her_ back at Lyea.

She carefully stepped between the scattered things toward her _sister_'s frozen posture. "What happened..?" she asked Deia quietly. No response. After a few minutes of waiting patiently, Lyea touched a few strands of Deia's hair that had come loose of its braid, and tucked it behind _her_ ear. She noted that the face masked in frozen calmness in front of hers was not of her _sister_'s... it was the face of the real person under the mask of Deia.

Lyea stroked the frozen face softly with both hands, noting that she still had no response, not even a flicker of acknowlegdment. She gazed deeply in the cold violet eyes, and kissed the forehead several times, patiently waited for any reaction. She knew the person in front of her would never hurt her.

The cold violet eyes drooped a little, and Lyea knew she'd been acknowledged. "Dearest...you alright? What happened?" she whispered softly.

The face in her hands dropped the gaze to the corner where Prussian was crouching before. A brief longing flickered in the cold amethysts, then gone.

"Where's Prussian...?" Lyea whispered again, knowing the small boy wouldn't be anywhere in the vicinity such as under the bed. "...Duo...!" her voice barely a whisper, but the lips of the cold mask in her hands twitched a little at the name.

Ever so slowly those lips opened, and froze again with no sound nor movement. After a long moment a weak whisper heard "...I... lashed out..." Lyea's corcerned gaze turned to deep worry.

"...I lashed out...He just wanted to ... give me amulets to chase away my nightmares...!" the slightly deeper voice from Deia's said in much firmer tone. (4) The amethyst eyes searched Lyea's slowly, a tinge of panic flashed in them.

"Shhh... We'll find him. Was he hurt...?"

'Duo' swallowed hard, then gave Lyea a confused gaze "...I... don't know...! ... I was... I yelled.. and he threw a dead bird at me..." -at least I thought it was already dead-

Lyea's eyes momentarily flicked to the black charcoal under their feet. "It's okay, he jumped off of the balcony, didn't he...?" A miniature nod. "...right.., we'll find him before anything happens..!" Lyea pulled the unresponsive hand toward the balcony.

But the owner only stood there unmoving, and gave a small almost unaudible whimper. "Come on, Dearest...Boys don't cry! Let's go and find YOUR Prussian back...!" Lyea whispered soothingly.

The younger child submissively let Lyea pulled the hand and led them through the outside corridors and stairs of the white-stone Castile and on to the turf of the Castile's yard.

**Note:**

(1) since Deia had admitted that 'she' was a BOY, from then on Deia's /she/ or /her/ will be set in italic. Why Saru didn't just wrote it straight as /he? Well, 'Deia' is still in _her_ guise. WHEN _she_ become 'he' Saru'll write as /he/ or /him/

(2) it's Prussian's thoughts (you know who he really is, right?) He didn't think in words and that's why it'll be written in 3rd person's view still/

(3) Archantra doesn't have original sun-shine, the real sunshine infiltrates the Stratus, which diffused the sunshine from the outside to multi-colored fragments of lights, almost like rainbow's colors or aurora. It too will be expalined more with the story.

(4) Deia -Duo- was actually a boy, but since he's still a 10yrs old boy Saru don't think the difference of "Deia's" and "Duo's" voice could be that significant yet. May be until 2-3 years more...? Huh...! Saru've never been a boy so Saru don't know about it precisely... - -;;


	4. wolfhounds

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku may 30, 2006 **

**Disclaimer** : G-boys NOT Saru's...story n concept, though...hehehh

** 4 wolfhounds**

It's been hours passed searching for the fled small boy, but they couldn't find him everywhere. Deia had scanned for _her_ Prussian since _her_ feet touched the white grasses of the Castile's yard below _her_ chamber, somehow the smell of the Fine-grass woken _her_ somewhat from _her_ befuddled state. _Her_ mind still empty, but the image of a frightened Prussian sagged on the corner of _her_ chamber's floor kept flashing uninvited, the repeated thoughts of his echoed in _her_ heart '_what should I do...what should I do..._' as if mocking _her_ and _her_ futile attemp to find him.

They've tried everywhere they could think of in the Castile, even the farmstead, the barns, stables and soldiers' barracks ( of which ladies usually wouldn't enter). After gathering some search parties from the places they passed, Lyea took Deia who submissively followed her to the Castile's dungeons, the underground Castile of the ancestor's and even the underground passageways of the Castile. All along Lyea held her _sister_'s hand, saying something comforting and relieving. But since Deia didn't seem to be affected by them, she contented herself by singing softly along the narrow passageways aligning the water canals of the underground tunnels. Her soft quiet voice echoed in the maze.

In the outside, they knew it's already passed dusk.

"...He's not here..." Deia's quiet voice almost unheard "...Prussian's not in the Castile anymore...!" Then _she_ stopped _her_ reluctant heavy steps.

Lyea stopped too and looked at Deia's demeanor, _she_ still loked like a frozen statue with face a mask of indifference and empty stares at nothing in particular, the sunny air around _her_ had dimmed to cloudy shadow and _her_ eyes lost their light.

Lyea studied _her_ for sometimes, then stroked _her_ cheek lovingly. "...Dearest Duo...!"

"Stop calling me THAT..!" Deia exclaimed with hard voice "..If I couldn't have that name, don't call me by it...!" and snatched the hand in Lyea's grasp then turned and walked back to where they came from.

Lyea watched her _sister_'s form vanished by the intersection, and stood still at her spot. The soft glow of light-crystals embedded in the walls at certain intervals casted soft shadow of hers on the floor. She looked at it with sad eyes. After about ten minutes she walked to where Deia had gone.

Passed a few turns, she found Deia balled in the passageways' corner hidden from the soft glow of the light-crystals, hugging _her_ knees and hiding _her_ face between them. The small white-dressed form didn't move nor tremble...didn't even seem to breath..., _her_ hidden eyes stared blindly at the waters.. Lyea stared at _her_ from the intersection quietly, then slowly sat next to _her_ on the floor without saying anything, and stared at the slow flowing water in the canal in front of them. They sat there unmoving for a long time...

"...Miladies...!" Howard's soft call echoed in the dim tunnels. Lyea turned her head to where the voice came from, and found Howard at the near intersection Castileward.

"The Lord was anxious of your whereabouts up there, and Odin was agitated enough to cast murdering glance at everyone including myself after finding the state your chamber was in...!" the Old Charms smirked amusedly, and Lyea smiled at him. Deia didn't move a bit next to her, then Howard squated in his usual un-Charms-ly pose in front of the small balled form.

"We'll find him... I had almost all the other Charms I could contacted to help search for him... Noone's hurt, is it?" he said softly to the unresponsive little girl, while sending soft waves of comfort to _her_. The _girl_'s tight ball slumped a little in defeat, and a shaky exhalation heard slowly.

A sniff.

A cynical snicker.

A soft hum almost like a moan.

A loud sigh...

A few seconds later a soft voice he never heard before greeted him.

"...Hi, Howard..."

The old Charms blinked once, and stared at the child in front of him who lifted the head and faced his face. The impassive face had hard mask and cold empty eyes. Then, Howard knew he'd met the real person behind Deia's mask, the one he could almost sensed in the pasts but had never really got a hold off of its presence.

After a few moments staring at the eyes of the child, Howard smiled friendly. "...Hello, child ..!"

The child in Deia's feature nodded once, then resumed _her_ empty contemplation to the water flow.

"...We could find him back... but I couldn't win..." the child said in emotionless tone.

"Of course you could win his trust back, you're..-"

"It hadn't even given to me yet...! And I charcoaled it under my feet..." the empty stare wavered a little.

"Child..." Howard lifted his right hand to _her_, but stopped as a sting surged his hand when he brushed the child's personal space. It almost felt like the sting from the boy's craft-plate..

"Does it hurt, Howard..? When someone you tried to help rejected you like that...?" the empty eyes glimmered a little with a layer of tear "...I know it hurts more inside...!" but the voice still unemotional.

The child sigh slowly "...I'm sorry..." then said the words defeatedly.

"Say it to him when we find him... Now, come on, ...he doesn't have anywhere else to go to. If he fled outside the Castile, we would've felt it because of the Castile-Spell!" Howard stood

"...anyway, he wouldn't have that much strength to get pass the Castile-Spell, it would've thrown him back inside if he ever tried..! Besides, people are still afraid of him..."

"He's not a monster, Howard... I am...!" the child spoke slowly but firmly.

"I killed The Lady of Archantra and her unborn daughter, and you people took me in to bear her unborn identity..! Called Beloved and got to call you family, and Father, and Sister..-" the cynical sentence stopped abruptly as a slapping sound echoed in the maze of tunnels and canals.

"We wouldn't want to say something we would regreted later, would we, Dearest...?" Lyea's soft voice tinged with sadness, with a smile in front of the child's face. The eyes stared back at her, though surprised they were still empty. Lyea softly stroked the slightly reddened cheek with her thumb appologetically, then took the child's hand and stood "...Let's go!"

And they walked back up to the upper grounds.

After passed midnight having no sight of the missing boy, Lyea insisted her _sister_ to take a rest in her chamber, knowing even though Deia's chamber had been rearranged, the fresh memory of the incident that day in that chamber would agitated the restless little _girl_. She still held the younger child's hand in the bed till dawn comes, although she could feel Deia didn't -couldn't- sleep at all all night, staring at the ceiling of the bed's canopy.

Before the Stratus started to diffuse the first morning light to some layers of aurora-like lights, Lyea asked Deia if _she_ would like to start search Prussian again. Without a word for answer, _she_ walked off of the bed and to the coridors in _her_ nightgown and fuzzy sleepers. Lyea called out and ran after _her_ wearing her robe with a pashmina in her hand, and draped it around Deia's shoulders. Following closely behind _her_ who was in sleepwalking-like state.

Deia's empty-minded steps brought _her_ to the Castile's yard again, at the inner backyard where underground stables for dangerous animals were. They'd searched him there yesterday, but not finding anything out of the ordinary, they'd looked somewhere else. The damp Fine-grass felt cool to _her_ feet and wetted _her_ gown where it brushed the white leaves, but in _her_ dreamy-haze sight _she_ paid no heed, _she_ just followed a vibe of pull towards the stables.

At the stable's yard, a few soldiers and beast-trainers huddled near the entrance, they looked troubled and surprised when they noticed Deia were walking towards them, followed by Lyea close behind.

"...Miladies...!" they uttered in startlement. Lyea nodded at them once in acknowledgement, while Deia kept walking pass them.

"...- go get Howard..!" Odin's voice was heard from the underground stables, and a Charms nearly stumbled to Deia in his haste. He surprisedly stopped and gave _her_ a nod, then hurriedly continued his way. Loud growls and snarls were heard from the inside, almost drowning any other sounds and voices.

Deia descended the stone stairs slowly to where the enormous cages were planted in the walls and floor. Soft gasps and murmurs of greetings was heard from the people in the stable, some Charms, guards, beast-trainers and their assistants. _She_ stopped behind Odin who crouched at some distance in front of the enormous cage where they kept the pack of wolfhounds, talking in low voice with one of the pack trainers.

He gave _her_ a nod "...The wolfhounds acted strange this early morning..!" and said in level tone "They've been growling and guarding the cage entrance and along the cage bars for hours, the beast trainers couldn't even tried to get near to feed them without a flock of frenzied wolfhounds gnarling and barking at them and freaked them out!" He pointed to the cage with his chin. A few massive wolfhounds stared at them with feverish wild-eyes and growled madly.

Deia walked slowly towards the enormous cage and lifted _her_ right hand to them. "...Let me in...I won't hurt anybody...!" _She_ whispered softly. A few disapproval and worried murmurs from the people around _her_ were ignored, Deia let _her_ hand inside the cage bars with open palm to the frenzied beasts.

"...I won't let anyone hurt him..., I promise..!"

"...Let me get to him..., please..." The growls and snarls had decreased after that, but the wolfhounds guarding the cage bars were still standing in alert ready to pounce anyone who enter the cage, their four-ears pricked back flat to their skulls. Deia touched the massive locked cage door, it clicked once and opened slowly. The people around _her_ backed off in alarm.

Deia stepped inside the cage, the few wolfhounds near the door stood guard and started to growl in a new frenzy. _She_ stared at them with cold empty gaze, stood there like a goddess of apathy and dispiritedness, unwavered by everything around _her_, the void in _her_ felt by the wolfhounds shut them up after a few moments. They whined and moved around agitated and uneasy by _her_ presence, but still determinedly blocking the way to the farther side of the cage where the light dimmed by the shadow of the cave walls of the stable.

"...Ah, I see...!" Howard's voice sounded loud in the sudden silence of the underground chamber "The collective protection-wills..!" he said astonished behind Odin. "That's why the Charms couldn't scanned him anywhere in the Castile's vicinities!"

"I've heard something like that...!" Odin frowned. "But never seen it given for other creatures outside their own kind...!"

"Huh... He must be special to them, then..!" the old Charms brushed it off with that as if it explained everything.

In the far corner, secured between the curled body of a big hound was a small head with brown locks tucked on the beast's thick furred body. The big hound stared at the humans with feverish golden-eyes, revealing its sharp teeth with an angry snarl, its head bowed forward on its front paws which bearing their blade-nails out. The small boy was asleep with calm but exhausted face, the discolorations on his exposed skin was easily distinguished even from the distance. It was from the crash with the chamber-Spell, luckily he'd managed to flee through it before Deia's lashing increased the power of the waves, or else he would have been incinerated to black-ashes right then and there.

The hound was curled in the dark shadowed corner, but it was different from the wolfhounds that bred in the Castile. The white wolfhounds had short-furred coats, and longer around their necks and chests, four ears, shorter and bulkier muzzles, two-tails like lion's, and two long upper-cuspids. While the hound coddling the boy had long thick light-golden coat, the band of long-furs around its neck and chest was of shiny-lightbrown color, two ears, two small white triangular horns at its forehead, longer and more slender muzzle, six blade-like nails on each of its front claws, a tail with long furs, and four long upper-cuspids which the fore-pairs slightly shorter then the ones behind them.

"That looks like a wolf..!" Howard said amused. A Wild-wolf in the cage of wolfhounds that were trained to hunt wolves..!

"Yes, the trainers said so too...but nobody ever saw a wolf with two ears and one tail before..!" Odin frowned deeper "Besides,...those nails look really blade-like, I wonder if they're made of somekind of alloy..!"

"...Hmmmmm...Aren't the animals in midlands have a pair of ears and single tail..?"

"We've never seen beasts with six-nails on their front claws, sir!" one of the trainers spoke in low voice to Howard. "We don't know how that beast could be mixed in there, it wasn't there yesterday..!"

"Well it's not a summon-beast, so I don't think it got in there by teleportation or similar ways!" Howard frowned too.

The whines of the wolfhounds receded, the agitated ones stilled and sat on their hindlegs. One in front of the others slowly moved forward, and licked the fingers of Deia's stretched out right hand.

"Good boy..." Deia stroked its muzzle in front of _her_ face with both hands "...Now, let me get to him, alright..?" _She_ asked in hushed voice. The wolfhound whined and waggled its two-tails, the others chaffed and looked anxious at the golden-hound, whined in defeat and flattened their four-ears. They didn't look fearful, though, only acted like saying '_sorry, couldn't help you more than this_'. A few of them rested on their bellies, watchful of Deia's movements, the one stroked by _her_ moved to _her_ side and sat as if taking guard of _her_ safety.

The people in the chamber watched in varieds levels of amazement. Lyea watched silently with interest, the golden-hound was now assessing all of them, mostly at Deia, watching the procession with calm impassive face, as if calculating. Its golden eyes shining with something intelligent higher than any other animal's. She didn't like to acknowledge it, but she was kind of unnerved by the looks in its eyes.

Deia shifted _her_ empty gaze at the brown haired head in the safety of the hound's curled body, he looked so small and vulnerable balled between a beast's limbs like that. But the peacefull expression on his face brought waves of pleasantness to _her_ void-heart, along with stabs of guilt and joy altogether. _She_ looked at him through halflidded eyes, before breathed softly.

"...Prussian..."

The brown head pricked minutely and stiffened, ever so slowly the small body curled tighter. After quite sometime one eye flickered open a slit, the prussian color glowed in the darkness.

"...Come back.."

There was a soft grating sound echoed by the cave-walls of the stables. Deia blinked once in surprise, it was the sound of _her_ Prussian growling at _her_. _Her_ impassive face fell, _she_ couldn't win now..._her_ Prussian's frightened of _her_, may be even hate _her_.

"...please..." _she_ whispered in saddened voice. The wolfhounds whined again.

The boy growled louder, Deia held his gaze repentantly. The whines got louder too, either of fear of the boy's growling or by Deia's repentance, people couldn't tell. Suddenly the growling stopped, the whines of the wolfhounds ebbed too, albeit not instantly. The prussian eyes now bore at Deia's with dead-gaze, like when he was brought to the Castile the first time, by the mercenaries and frightened villagers.

A new stab of guilt painfully hit Deia's heart. _She_'s no better than those abussive men, then. May be even worse, _she_ could've killed him so easily if he didn't flee _her_ wrath that time. Giving hopes of security and pleasantness then betrayed it with only one explosive wrath was certainly much meaner than what they'd done to him, to think _her_ anger wasn't even caused by the small boy's deeds...

The boy hissed at _her_, bearing a neat line of sleek needle-sharp teeth.

"Those teeth are not of human's!" one of the startled guard murmured. Odin's eyes flickered at him sidelong, he noted the golden-hound too flickered its eyes to the man. -That beast's eyes are too much like human's ..!- He thought warily.

"I'm sorry...please, Prussian...?" Deia said a little louder. The boy stopped hissing but his eyes still held waryness. "...Please..?" _she_ lifted both hands open palmed at him, sending waves of tender kindness _she_ could muster desperately.

The boy blinked, he looked hesitant for a while, his eyes cleared for a slight bit before widened and darkened again. His breath hitched and he looked at the golden-hound's eyes with a slight panic, then a small bruised hand clutched the beast's fur from under a too long tunic sleeve. Deia widened _her_ eyes, _she_'d forgotten that _her_ Prussian had contradictions with Harmony.

The golden-hound straightened its posture, the wolfhounds too rose in alarm. When the golden-hound rouse and stood up on its four limbs, the wolfhounds whined and lowered their bodies in defeat. The people widened their eyes in surprise. "...It's BIG..!" Howard breathed with appreciation. The beast's back was even taller than a horse back.

Deia opened _her_ mouth to say something more, but the beast had decided to flee. Odin grabbed his talisman-sword, sensing something was going to happen. The golden-hound bowed and hammered its head to the opposite sidewall where a stable for smaller-bred hounds was, the stone wall crumpled in debries, a thin layer of dust clouded the air, leaving a big hole in the wall. Not a half second later there was a loud clang heard from the other stable. The metal-cage door thrown so violently it embedded in the opposite wall of the stable next to the stone-stairs. Then a flash of blurry golden fled on them through the chamber entrance. It happened so fast that the surprised people only managed single squeaks or exclamations for the entire series of events. The hounds in the cages howled long and barked.

Deia stood wide-eyed at _her_ spot with quivering lips, still looking at the corner where the golden-hound was before. _Her_ Prussian was nolonger there, knowing the beast used its head and back to break away, he must be clinging to the beast's stomach. Worry filled the void-heart with monstrous force.

"...wait..." Deia breathed barely a whisper. "Wait...!" _she_ exclaimed with more focused eyes, the violets gleamed with power.

The wolfhounds jumped in fear to take some distance from _her_ darkness-circle formed under _her_ feet, flashes of black lightning accompanied the black void. A big black dragonfish immerged from the circle and fled trough the cage bars with Deia on its back to where the golden-hound had gone.

The cage bars bended by the impact. People ducked to the ground and stared openmouthed at the ordeals, the beasts in the stables shrunk in fear and surprise.

Odin rose from above Lyea on the ground, he had instinctively coverred the small girl with his body when the black dragonfish dashed over them. The General then swiftly barking orders to pursue them.

"...Well... That's fast..!" Howard said unrepentantly.

"Uh-hmm..." Lyea nodded frequently "Well, let them have it till they're satisfied, then.." she patted her clothes to get rid of the dust (although it's white dust on white-clothes).

"Trust is mutually given, not something gained by conquest..!" she added.

There was a commotion sounds at the front of the entrance, then a baffled and anxious looking Lord in rumpled damp sleeping robe poked his head in. "What's going on in here..!"

"First I almost got trampled by a BIG dog on my way to this place, then Deia's dragonfish almost pound on me at the entryway ..!"

Lyea gigled at her father's antics. "THIS is not funny, Lyea...!" the Lord furrowed and pouted.

"I'm so sorry, Papa dear..." she cuckled "I'm glad you're not hurt..!"

"You're sorry and you're glad and you're laughing at me...!" the Lord's pout deepened. And Lyea let out a girly laugh.

"Milord..!" Odin ascended the stairs swiftly.

"Whaat...!" the Lord still pouted asked in annoyance.

"I'll take a few men and Charms to pursue Lady Deia and the boy..!" in full mision-mode, Odin ignored the Lord's antics.

"...Do as you see fit ..!" he said pouting foul-moodly "..Bring them back safely!" and added in level tone. Odin gave a small bow and leave with his men, followed by Howard who smirked at the Lord. The Lord narrowed his eyes and pouted at him, seizing the old Charms' eyes all the way. Outside, he heard the old man laughed outright.

"It's NOT funny..!" he sweatdropped and whined at his daughter. Lyea gigled again softly and use her robe sleeve to wipe some dirt off of her father's nose. Well, he'd fallen backward to dodge the BIG dog, and dove forward to dodge Deia's dragonfish...SINCE it happened to HIM, then it's NOT funny.

"...it's noooot...!" the Lord whined again sounding like an indignant 5yrs old boy.

"Yes, of course, Papa..!" Lyea smiled soothingly, embraced the Lord's right hand with both of her hands.

The golden-hound ran like wind! As if it had no weight, and its movements were so fluid it must be no ordinary animal... If it was an animal, at all!

Deia kept _her_ eyes only at the beast in front of her, all the time worrying about _her_ small wounded Prussian. What if the boy fall off in this kind of speed and heights..! The hound was taking aerial routes by the rooftops and towers. In a few seconds, they had come to the Castile's Spell where it planted surrounding the outerwalls. Deia gasped as the big hound jumped and passed through the invisible Spell with its forelegs and head first. There was a loud crashing sound and a bright explotion of white light when the beast's head touched the Spell, its triangular-horns glimmered and became transparant for a second. Sensing with _her_ charms, Deia knew there was a hole in the Spell the beast had made for it to pass.

Great..! A magical-beast! _She_ thought sarcastically, then increased _her_ Harmony waves for _her_ dragonfish to exit the Castile-Spell.

Outside, _she_ saw the beast descended the mountaining-elevation of the Castile's outerwall to the city far down by flying. Deia widened _her_ eyes in disbelief, it had wings grew from its back made of liquid-alloy... The liquid-metals!

The beast flew faster above the city like a comet.

"...Faster, Darken ..!" Deia spoke in telephatic Harmony to _her_ summon-dragonfish, and let loose waves of stronger Harmony to feed the dragonfish to boost it faster.

**Note:** AAAAAAAHHHHH... Saru need a break!

The story is too slow, Saru think... Saru got a habbit of detailing everything... (yet the environmental descriptions are still in the blinds) Sorry! "


	5. sabercuspids

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku june 12, 2006 **

** 5 saber-cuspids**

The moist Air dampened _her_ hair and dress, the thick pashmina glistened with tiny beads of moisture, _her_ skin felt cold and raw by the wind as Deia's dragonfish cut trough the Air like a shooting star, -although you can't see the stars in Archantra. It's always the Stratus and the kaleidoscopic auroras and spectrals of arcane phantasmargorias on the Stratus's surface that could be seen marvelously at night; when there's no sunlight to be diffused, the Stratus gave its own glimmers. Outsiders would kill just to have the view for one night, for recreational or magical-education purposes, the view alone was a life-time blessing. And as seclusive as Archantra was, outsiders were not allowed freely to enter, just as far as the Air that's poisonous to most outsider races, humans or animals or plants.

It's early summer, but mornings in Archantra were always much cooler than in the outsides. Deia greeted _her_ teeth, either by the temperature or by the wind, or _her_ anxiety of the whole situation. _Her_ sharp violet eyes trained only to the golden beast that managed to extend the distance between them more from time to time, _she_ could only increase much stronger waves to boost _her_ dragonfish to keep tailing the creature. Darken's naturally-armored back felt warmer than the Air, Deia flattened _her_ upper body on it to avoid the thick wind, all the time worrying _her_ small Prussian whom his body couldn't be seen by the beast's thick furs. _She_ chanted _'...be safe..'_ over and over in _her_ heart for the boy, swallowing _her_ desperation for just a glimpse of him that never revealed.

The beast headed to the southern suburb of the land, where the thickest part of the Forest that surrounded the land was. The giant white trees could be seen bigger and bigger as they aproached the Forest's edges.

Deia let out a hiss, if the beast get in there then it will be more difficult to chase it, all _she_ could do right now was decreasing their distance so that _she_ and _her_ dragonfish were on the close tail after it. So Deia let loose _her_ strongest Harmony waves as much as it is allowed for gaining speed was, _she_ growled low as the process strained _her_ to the limit. _She_'s never been this fast in a chase before, but determinedly accelerated _her_ Harmony. Just like Lyea used to say about _her_, burning with energy in action, _she_ just hoped that _her_ energy could last longer than what's necessary to chase the golden beast, because somehow _she_ had a feeling _she_'d need more to gain _her_ Prussian back.

The creature with metal-wings dove low to the grounds, then entered the forest on foot while the wings dematerialized back to its body, all the way never lost its momentum nor speed, if ever it only went faster and faster with each step, then the thick white forest swallowed its figure completely. Deia had managed to decrease the distance to only a few meters away, but the maneuver parted them again somemore meters, _she_ hissed in frustration, the trees didn't give that much of difficulty, for the dragonfish's wing-shaped pectoral fins could penetrate anything since they're half-materials almost like air or water or light. But its black armored-body was solid, so Deia had to steer it to dodge the tree trunks. It slowed their pace a little and widened the distance for somemore.

Deia felt more than saw one of the beast's eyes flicked back to _her _sidelong, then it changed its course from ground-routing to jumping randomly from bough to bough, sometimes low, sometimes high, or sideways. Deia cursed something unintelligible under _her_ breath and forced _her_ instincts and reflexes harder. Smaller branches crushed when the dragonfish dashed by, the Harmony Deia let loose automatically formed a barrier of waves around its solid body and _her_s, it also leave scrape-marks on the tree trunks along the way.

They continued the chase for sometime through the Forest deeper and deeper towards the outer lands.

"The closest we could get to them, away from the city !" Howard grinned "...Lucky that the beast is heading to the outer lands, or else we couldn't drop you here..." leaving '_since we cannot enter the Forest's realm by teleportation or any kinds of magical-rides_' behind as everyone already knows that fact implicitly.

Odin, a few guards, two Charms, and of course the Old Charms Howard, on their mounts, materialized on the edge of the Forest. Odin on his famous black warsteed, the guards on white horses, the Charms on their grey summon-seahorses, while Howard being the eccentric Charms on his summon-zebra-striped-camel.(1)

"...or NOT...!" he amended when seeing the dark look on Odin's face.

"It's heading to the outer lands..!!" the general spoke low through greeted teeth.

"...and Lady Dee would definitely follows !!" the old Charms added carefully.

"I don't like this side of the Forest !!" Odin scrunched his face "It's too thick with older trees, god knows what Wilds evolving in there !!"

"I'm not a god, but I could find out about that...!" Howard grinned again. Odin flicked sidelong at him in annoyance, only to widened the old Charms' grin that's almost took two-third of his face.

"Let's go !!" Odin charged the Forest, then. Followed by his men, while the two Charms automatically dashed off in front of them as scouts to anticipate any possible dangers. Howard's summon-camel followed lazily on their tail, but strangely the ruminating-creature was never left behind.

Deia took short strained breaths, the chase in the Forest already felt like hours, but probably it's only been for some tens of minutes, _she_ couldn't be sure, with this kind of speed even the pace of the wheel of Time turnings felt slowing by. _Her_ body ached by the strains, and _she_ felt the nausea and dizzyness eating _her_ insides. Letting out a small cough, _she_ wheezed and clutched _her_ dress colar with one hand. _Her_ sight had started to blur and darkened, while the golden creature in front of _her_ didn't seem to be tired at all. It's only about time for _her_ energy to burnt out and _she_'d have to surrender the chase.

The beast flicked its eye to _her_ again. The little _girl_ was adamantly pursue them still, it narrowed its golden eyes in appreciation, one tip of its lips turned upward in a smirk. Then, unexpectedly it jumped high and vanished around ground level when it plunged back down.

Deia's eyes widened in surprise at that, when suddenly the ground beneath them gone and the dragonfish dove the opening in great speed, having its course locked to the beast it pursued. It was an opening about a kilometer wide, with steep rocky walls on both sides, and a torrent river far down, bending in a great arc, lenght about one-fifth of the circling-land. The golden beast was running defying gravity along the steep fartherside-wall to their right, Deia couldn't steer _her_ dragonfish to swerve in time to avoid coliding with the wall headfirst, _she_ let out a small squawk when Darken's underside abraded the rocky wall with such force they bounced off and uncontrollably spinned above the water surface and grazed the opposite wall a few times, before _she_ could stabilize the dragonfish better along the high-walled river. Darken instinctively had took the burnt of the collisions so as to not hurt its summoner on its back.

Deia swallowed hard between _her_ labored gasps, and looked up ahead to the outer-side wall where the golden beast ran alongside the vertical rocky-structure. _She_ murmured Prussian's name wearily with sadden anguish, then reboosted _her_ dragonfish to shorten the distance between them again. Took a deep breath, _she_ called out on the top of _her_ lungs..

"...PRUSSIAAAANN ...!!!!"

The high pitched voice bounced off the walls and echoed along the river body.

The golden beast's smirk widened at hearing the desperation in _her_ voice, but let out an animal chuckle amusedly at _her_ determination and stubborness to chase them. Humans and their stupid massochisms...!

You've found yourself a very stubborn tail, Kidling...! a soft echo of a male's voice.

The boy's small hands tightened their clutches at the beast's furs, and he let out a small inaudible hiss. The golden beast chuckled affectionately in return. Then took flight along the river line, spreading its liquid-metal-wings that emerged from its back again, and boosted up its high-speed much more to a blur of goldenish.

Deia gasped sharply and let out a small whimper, feeling the painful bites of rejection in _her_ melting-void of heart, then howled a long piercing cry, centering _her_ left-over energy, and blasted to chase the beast.. _HER Beast_ ...with prussian-colored eyes...!!

"...What was that..?!" Odin stopped his warsteed abruptly. The others followed around him.

Howard frowned in concentration, letting out waves of search, he widened his eyes in realization.

"The river !! THEY'RE CIRCLING THE FOREST...!!!" he blasted his summon-camel to the right, leaving the others, the other two Charms followed him not too fast, knowing the horses wouldn't be able to follow their sumon-beasts' speed.

Odin cursed, and followed to where the Charms were heading. They managed to follow after the two Charms after some time, but Howard on his summon-camel was no longer in sight. Yeah, that lazy oddly-striped-ruminating-creature knows how to run like lightning...!!

_Her_ explosive short breaths sounded too loud in _her_ ears, _her_ vision dimmed, centered only to the golden beast that flew so fast it only looked like a blur of light. And _she_ could think of only about _her_ small _Beast_ clutching for his live to the golden beast's belly. The torrent stream of the river would definitely crushed his little body if he ever fall down, what was that beast thinking?! Prussian was wounded and even he hadn't healed completely from his previous severe wounds. Deia wheezed painfully for some air to fill _her_ lungs, feeling _her_ head spined like a raging tornado, and the world gone dark.

Darken swayed a little in its course, feeling its summoner blacked out, but still _she_ let out waves of Harmony to boost it through the chase by _her_ willpower only. The dragonfish let out a wave of worry to _her_, if this continue _she_'d be burning _her_ life for the sake of it..!! Too bad, Darken was a summon-beast meant for rides only, its existence as tangible-creature was dependent to its summoner Harmony, it genuinely NOT meant to be in this level of realm, it definitely couldn't gave _her_ any other support other than just waves of affections to try to alleviate _her_ exhaustion. Hopefully it's enough to wake _her_ somewhat, so that _her_ Harmony wouldn't be sucked out while _she_'s unconscious. It's not fair if you died in your sleep, without knowing your life's separated from your body, and you wake up as something else.

Your tail's out..! the soft echo of a male's voice said to the boy.

The brown haired boy widened his eyes, tried to looked back to see the violet eyed human through the golden beast's furs, but couldn't. His heart ached with stabbing worry, and he felt panic rising from the pit of his stomach, forming a bile through his throat. He swallowed hard a few times before managed a low hiss through clenched teeth to the beast.

We're almost there... can't stop now ! the soft echo said levelly.

The small boy let out a soft whimper, his expression begging the beast to slow down. _He didn't hate the violet eyed human, instead he felt a strong pull towards the human. He felt wretched when he thought the violet eyed human despised him, but truthfully he cared for the human...his human, ...not like others, ...not like anything...!_ He let out a harder low hiss to the beast and shakily tightened the grips on its furs, feeling his nails bit through his palm-skin and wetted the furs.

The beast narrowed its eyes in remorse, but didn't slow down. Suddenly it changed course of flight, made a sharp turn upward in short distance, soaring skyward like a rocket vertically. The boy arched his neck to see the wall of rocks that cuts the river that continue to flow underground, he impossibly widened his eyes more as the realization hit him painfully like the stakes of the bull-crossbow.

Opening his mouth in horror he tried to shout for warning to the human tailing them, but no sound came out, he only felt a cold-burning shot through his throat and making him choked misserably. Shutting his eyes in pain, and feeling his heart lurched down with the possibility of what's going to happen to his human. He curled his neck trying to burry his face in the thickness of the beast's furs.

Deia felt a shock of pain stabbing _her_ chest, and gasped weakly as _she_ tried to open _her_ heavy eyes. _Her_ vision still darkened and blurry, _her_ little mind supplied _her_ with the realization that _she_ was on Darken's back and flying in a crushing-bones speed which was making _her_ vision blurry. _She_ widened _her_ eyes as the wall of rocks cutting the river suddenly appear in front of them. Cried a strained scream, _she_ managed to reflexively send out command for _her_ dragonfish to turn upward. Covering _her_ head with both hands from the debris of rocks that showering _her_ from where Darken's underside abraded the wall again, leaving a long vertical trail of dragonfish-body's mark. _Her_ barrier waves had long gone since _she_ had nomore power enough to sustain it.

The dragonfish still lurched upward even after the wall ended somewhere in the middle of the way, slowing down as it undeniably lost its momentum, and completely stopped and floated for a brief second at its peak of climbing. Then plunged forward and gaining speed fast as it wildly spinning in the air towards where the golden beast went to.

Darken sent out alarm waves frantically to its sumonner, deliberately screw-propelling the trees out as it lurched between the Forest's trunks again, knowing its sumonner's barrier were nolonger surrounding them, forming a gravitational-cavity in the center of its rotations so wood splinters and broken branches didn't touch Deia's body. But the small _girl_ barely holding to _her_ consciousness, the spinning didn't help any, either.

_She_ whimpered agonically _'Prussian.., please...I'm sorry...'_ was _her_ last conscious mind, before _she_ instinctively spread out _her_ hands on Darken's back and sent out waves of gratitudes. The dragonfish flew horizontally back after a few seconds, dodging a few giant treetrunks smoothly, but Darken awareness was frantic as it realized what that waves usually means. The dragonfish let loose a desperate pleading cry that no other could hear, then its figure started to dispersed slowly to transparant then to nothing.

Howard's camel neighed(2) aloud in warning, sensing the desperate pleads for its summoner's sakes through the summon-realm links from the dragonfish's last awareness. Howard understood what his camel was allert for, and cursed outloud in several languages he could think of.

Odin felt his talisman-sword vibrating with waves of alarms. He could only greeted his teeth and rushed his warsteed to run faster.

There was an eruption of alertness in the boy's mind, before his hypersensitive ears picked up a faint cry for help reverberating in the thick Air from a creature not of this realm. He straightened his head trying to comprehend the direction it came from, his pain-clouded mind jumbled with unfocused thoughts, when suddenly it occured to him it must be from the violet eyed human's summon-creature. He hyperventilated by the over-excitement and conflicting emotions, and he started to quake uncontrollably, his small body losing temperature fast like winterdays and his hitched breaths starting to fog.

The golden beast felt the surge of cold-power emanating from the boy's chest coursing up through its body like electricity. It stopped at a tree bough and craned its neck to look at the boy cradled to its belly.

..Kidling...? the soft echo laced with deep concern. The boy's face was stricken and lost of its color, even through the discoloration of bruises, and pinched as if in deep agony, his eyes were unfocus, and he was wheezing chokedly as if trying to catch a breath that wouldn't fill his lungs. His quivering lips moved trying to form a word, but no sound came out. He sent pleading feelings in desperate attemp to urge the golden beast to go back to find the violet eyed human.

The beast furrowed its animal-brows and tsk-ed in dislike, then leaped to the direction it came from moments ago.

Vaguely feeling _her_ dragonfish vanishing slowly from under _her_, Deia covered both hands to _her_ head, the momentum of the speed they were in threw _her_ body forward. _Her_ distant mind somehow aware of the imminent hazard of the trees and _she_ instinctively called for a Spell-of-Protection out.

A glimmer of faint purple-light materialize around _her_ body before it slammed violently through a few giant tree trunks and crashed to the soil-ground in a heap of white and splinters and sawdust. The faint light fade out as _she_ lost consciousness again and the imminent danger had passed, leaving _her_ bare to the Forest for any Wilds to come and preyed on _her_.

_Her_ breaths hitched as _she_ fade in and out of consciousness, not knowing how long _she_'d been there on the Forest's ground, where _she_ laid bent half crouching down on _her_ front, the damp soil soaked _her_ exposed skin and felt cool on _her_ face. Somehow _she_ could muster enough will to open one eye to search _her_ surrounding, with only one thing in _her_ mind: _prussian colored eyes wide with hurt and fear and rejection_.

_She_ had to shut and re-open the one visible eye from under _her_ loose strands and damp pashmina, trying to focus _her_ dimmed sight at something. After some time had passed, _her_ wavering vision caught some movements on the far limb of the tree above _her_. It was the color of slightly brownish-blur. _She_ closed _her_ eye for a while and tried again.

A few more appeared on the lower tree limbs, reddish-brown fuzzy blurs, and _her_ subconscious mind aware that a pack of Wilds had found _her_. Feeling like it was _her_ last chance to say it, _she_ whispered inaudibly to _her_self _'...Prussian...sorry...'_ and succumbed to the exhaustion.

_She_ felt more than heard a soft whimper from somewhere on the grounds, and barely open the eye again. The big fuzzy blur was near _her_ body, _she_ couldn't distinct the colors anymore, after some moments of empty-gazing the thing _she_ widened her eye a little more.

That was the golden beast gazing down _her_ prone body with impassive eyes.

_She_ mustered more consciousness trying to move _her_ head, but only succeeded to only twitched _her_ lips a little. Desperately focusing _her_ vision, _she_ could see the small boy's brown haired head under the beast's underside furs. _She_ tried to call out but managed only a soft sigh. _Her_ vision dimmed again and focused to the creature's underside, realizing some metal gleams that caught _her_ eye.

_She_ weakly gasped as _she_ acknowledge the things were. They were two pairs of human-hands made of the silvery-liquid-metals cradling the small boy's body to the beast's, one pair under his armpits and the other pair at his hips, securing him firmly.

'_...you're safe... good...'_ the visible violet eye drooped in an attemp of a smile, then closed, and only then _she_ surrender to the blackness completely.

Catching his hitched breath again, although still shakily, the boy let out a small whimper. The cold shooting from the craft-plate in his chest was more bearable as they neared the prone body on the Forest's ground. But it's still not enough, his insides still felt like being frozen and burnt to ashes at the same time, he let out an animal whine after seeing the human's visible eye closed for the last time.

The metal-made hands loosened their cradling of the quaking small body, and let it dropped to the ground between the beast's four-legs. The boy instinctively landed on his front on his bent legs and arms, and laid there waiting for the pains to ebb.

After his pain-induced mind cleared a bit, he propped his body with his hands, and slowly crawled to the violet eyed human's body.

The golden beast watched the procession with cold stares, its golden eyes clouded a little. Knowing something that out of the boy's and Deia's knowledge had already occured. It let out a derissive snort then leaped to the high tree limb above them.

The boy whined louder a few times, but seemingly afraid to touch the human. He cocked his head to the sides assessing the human's injury, finding none, he let out an impatient hiss. The human didn't move the slightest, and he began to worry more. He stretched his neck near the human's ear and whined somemore. Feeling dread of the worst for not receiving any response from the human, he hesitantly stuck out his tongue, and fearfully gave a small lick to the limp hand laid near the face.

He blinked as collective thoughts and emotions assaulting his mind from that one lick, fear, worry, proudness, repentance, joy, remorse, afraid, sad, affection, lonelyness, sorrow, desperation, pleasantness, and many more. But they all centered on him. The boy let out a strangled sob and whined again.

The human's face contorted a little in discomfort, and the boy stilled. _Of course !! Nightmare ! The violet eyed human always seem to have uncomfortable sleeps_. He sat on his legs and hastily searched for something under his tunic, not finding anything, he swallowed and stilled. Then clutching both hands to his chest he trembled as if in a great pain, with eyes shut tightly, letting out a soft sob he bent in a balled pose, forehead touching the damp ground, submissively letting the pains tormented his small already-injured body from the insides.

Suddenly the body slumped and the trembling lessened, he wheezed painfully and whimpered once. The prussian eyes opened slowly locking their gaze to the human's face. Ever so slowly as the pain seized him he pulled out his right hand from under his body, clutching weakly a rectrix of deep-blue color. Gave a pleased sob, he put the feather's stem between the human's limp fingers. The stem was covered by a thin layer of white-metal, and so the feather had a few specks of the metal on it. He narrowed his eyes in blissful expression as the human's fingers curled unconsciously around the small object.

A loud roar from above made the boy sat bolt upright in surprise. Angry growls and snarls reverberating from all around them. Venomous hisses heard from every directions from the trees.

The boy stiffened and slowly and carefully moved his body crouching over the human's, one limb at a time.

A reddish-brown wolf of the size of a horse landed in front of them, letting out a mad roar and showing its sharp teeth. Its two-ears pricked flat and the four-beast-nails on each of its front claws gleamed menacingly. The boy lowered his crouching reflexively above the human's body. His wide eyes wild and gleaming, locked to the wolf's.

More wolves jumped down around them, circling them and growling and ready to pounce by the slightest movement of their focus of interest under the boy's body. The boy lowered his head and bared his teeth, eyes frantically focusing on the beasts movements. The wolves slowly walked in a circle around them, assessing weak points of where they could attack first, their saliva dripped to the ground. Feeling outnumbered, the boy let out a defending hiss.

Trying their chances, one of the wolves pounced from behind. The boy opened his mouth and let his saber-cuspids out in a flash, circling on his spot above the human's unmoving body, leaving circle-trails of nails around them on the grounds. The wolf jumped back and growls with feverish eyes. In a frantic movement the boy bared the cuspids at a few of them while turning around again so that his head was back above the human's.

The saber-cuspids were about 5-6 centimeters long, protruding from the upper front-teeth line, small trickles of blood trailed down on them from which the gum compromised their abrupt emerging. A few needle-teeth scattered on the grounds. Those teeth were the detachable teeth where the fangs should be, they will come loose when the saber-cuspids emerge. The lower cuspids was much shorter and bulkier, acting as the scissoring devices to the longer saber-cuspids curving in front of them. But they wouldn't be in a good use if the boy couldn't bite at any of the wolves. He let out laboring breaths as his stomach lurched with cold feelings for once not coming from the craft-plate. A cold shiver run his back and subconsciously let out a small whine.

The wolves roared again in a frenzy. Arranging themselves in position to attack as a group, confining the two small bodies in the center of the small space allowed...

-tbc

(1) It's nothing to do with anything, saru just thought that Howard with his ever presence hawaiian shirt looked good on a 'cheerful' looking camel... why camel? because camels looked 'elegantly' rilex with long eye-lashes and ever-chewing the cuds, ruminating... you know... why zebra-striped ? well, because there never were camels with the stripes... Hu??

(2) Howard's camel even sounded like a horse... haahahahaa XD

It nickered, and snort, and bray; and also could grin like a camel and bathing eyelashes !


	6. solo

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku june 15, 2006 **

** 6 solo**

_...perfect-rounded eyes glinted in the darkness, reflecting no light in the musty cold totally dark chamber, but gleamed with an alien shimmers from behind the spectacles. The child swallowed the urge to swallow nervously, the cold running along his vertebrae was almost unbearable, but determinedly kept his face impassive, knowing there will be a painfull reward if the child didn't fulfill what was desired of him._

"_you know why you're here, aren't you...?" the soft oldman's voice was colder then the ice "...to make you perfect...!"_

_And he clamped his mouth as tight as possible so his teeth won't rattle in fear, feeling his-self slipping away with every moment, the cold-burning feelings in his body magnified in dreadfull force, and the child roared an unheard anguish in agony. Whisps of blacksmoke coiling around his infant body..._

The loud roars and growls from the wolves around him reverberating in his hypersensitive eardrums, pounding his pain-filled brain and bones, his heart hammering like thunders that surged the cold-burning electrity of a storm to his whole body. His narrowed eyes darkened a little...

The wolves strangely didn't make more advantage of their sieging position, but they're in a much nastier frenzy than the wolfhounds in the Castile's underground stables. About 20 or more of them were circling and raging around him and his human below his low-crouched body. The Air felt like a thick mud filling his lungs, and he couldn't for the life of him took any comfort from every breath he barely could have, much less found them revitalize his wretched body... his eyes darkened more...

As a sudden outburst of freezing surge wrecked his nervous system flooding from his spinal cord, he arched his back and widened his eyes in dreadful awareness that he's losing his-self again. His pityful breath stopped abruptly. After a few seconds in eternal agony, his body slumped forward with bowed head. Howmuch breath ever held in his lungs escaped his slackened mouth slowly.

The wolves stilled suddenly.

His mind stopped suddenly.

The world gone mute and Time frozen suddenly...

A whizzing sounded from a distance, and suddenly the ground behind the crouching boy and the confining flock of wolves exploded.

The wolves jumped in surprise and moved as one to the opposite of where the attack came from, standing in alert close in front of the boy.

A neighing camel stopped abruptly a few distance behind him. Howard choked a little as his relieved lungs deciding to let out an explosive sigh and wheezed in a much needed air that he'd unconsciously held during the rapid hunt at the same time. In the end he just slumped forward and coughed in a tight fit.

His striped-camel's ruminating with a lazy feature...then grinned...

Several wolves let out curious and defensive rumbling noises. Instinctively knowing that this was not of the common-humans they'd acquainted to.

The old Charms straightened his back and wiped his watery eyes, breathless, but undeniably extaticly satisfied with himself. Although the situation in front of him somewhat needed improvement. He grinned...

"...'allo...!" he tried, rasping by the dried throat. Cleared his throat, then tried again "..Hallo... friends of the Wilds..!" he grinned wider showing his teeth, his hard deep breaths sounded like a donkey's through the clenched teeth. A few wolves gruffed.

"Oh, never mind me, I'm just an old Charms retrieving my royal-human back.. If you don't mind..." he continued sending waves of friendly comforts. The wolves chaffed, not making anykind of movement, assessing the odd-human on the hump of a weird-colored-ever-chewing animal.

"...Ahem..!" Howard grinned again "So...How's the day so far...?"

His camel gave a strange braying noise almost like graveled-throat coughing or hummed-laughing... and continued chewing... Howard blinked with a grin plastered like a wallpaper. Okay, so that was lame...!!

At the sounds of horses galloped towards their spot, the wolves pricked their two-ears again and started to growl, glowered in suspicions on the odd-human and the coming allies. Howard blinked again, his camel plastered a chewing-grin...

The general and his men, escorted by two Charms at their sides slowed their pace in relief, then stopped a few paces behind the old-Charms's camel in several sedate steps, realizing there's a situation occuring in front of them.

"...Howard..?" Odin whispered cautiously under his breath, knowing the old-Charms could hear it in the Air. The flock of wild-wolves begin their frenzied roars and growls again, acknowledging the armored-humans and their weapons, spreading out their position to a crescent-like in front and half-around the boy and the human under him.

Howard chuckled dubiously "Oh, everything's alright..! I was just trying to convince the Wild-friends here that we mean no harm to either of them for more than 15 minutes before you came...!" he said through a clenched-teeth grin. At the background he heard an audible sorry from the man, who slowly get off of his black horse and walked to the old-Charms' side with both hands open in a supposedly yielding gesture.

The general nodded to the wolves once, while assessing their physical appearances. These wolves have a pair of ears and single tails, with two pairs of upper cuspids, and reddish-brown long coats. They're mostly resembled the golden beast, except for the four-nails in their front claws, and the fluffy-band around their necks were of white color in contrast with their coats. But none of them have the triangular horns like the golden beast's.

You're quite late...!! an echo of a male's voice greeted them from the far limb of the tree above the boy. The men's eyes instantly locked to the source of the voice. The big golden beast was stretched lounging on his stomach with half-lidded lazy eyes trained at them.

If those beasts decided to have early supper, your royal-human would've had no remains by now...! the echo admonished them levelly. The beast didn't seem to speak, the echo was as if coming from inside of it. The flock of wolves' growls silenced instantly at the beast's echo of voice.

"Greetings to you, Golden Leader..!" Odin said in level tone, with a slow deep nod.

The beast's lips quirked at one end What makes you think I'm their leader..?!

The general lifted one brow, it was kind of obvious by their attitude, wasn't it..?

An animal breathy chuckle, which was something sounded like a series of breathy snorts, and the beast licked its blueish-tongue out to the side of its mouth. ...Hmmmmm... yesss, a little too obvious, isn't it..?!

We're heading south..! the beast said cuttingly ..And, we're kinda delayed here by your land for about... nine _week_s..?! it lifted its brow in question for the human's time-dividing system' term.

Odin nodded, both as confirmation and in understanding as to what the beast's words reffered to.

He trained his eyes down to the boy's crouching figure, his bowed head was hidden by his slumped posture "The boy's your-..." As if on cue, the wolves roared and barked like mad beasts from hell at the mention of the boy. Odin lifted both his brows in mild surprise and amusement, otherwise his level face didn't change the slightest. Up on the far limb of the giant tree, the big beast gave an animal chuckle again, sounded amused as well. The wolves silenced again to low breathy growls.

That was loosely translated as : leave your unclawed foot here -since you don't have no tail..!- , you untailed skinny-unmaned cocky dominating greasy apes -skinny as in showing too much of skin..! and cocky meant not anything reffering to a male chicken..!! ...although I think there's something got to do with it, hummm..or not?? Your languange and terms, anyway...- you'll be sorry before we even bite your plopping-fat-asses off your rattling bones... and yada-yada-yada too much growling and slobbery there...and... the beast roared ..just for effect.., then chuckled a little.

Odin blinked once "...what ?!"

Howard chuckled breathily, he liked this beast, quite sounded like Lady Dee' (on private) smart-ass attitude, and that also it have the tendency to stray-topic-ing. Behind him a low incredulous murmur of '_..greasy..?!_' came from the guards direction, and '_plopping..?!_' came from the Charms'. Yep, the guards used oil to polished their armors, and the Charms were ofcourse pretty convident that they DO NOT make any sound on their summon-creatures backs, but some Wilds could hear them even before in sight-distance much to their disbeliefs.

...but I could be wrong... we don't speak in languages here...so translating to your words was something tricky...Oh, but the main idea's quite in there !! the beast cocked his head to one side and nodded as if satisfied with itself.

you on the other hand... it casted its gaze straight to the general's eyes. ..should try to learn to hide your minds !! We could smell them far before sight-range, you know..?! With all those worries and anxiety poluting the air...!

The general stared impassively, and lowered his hands.

Oh, and we DO have quite faaaaaaarrrrhh sight-range, don't we, Pack..?! the wolves started roaring their confirmations but shorlty ebbed.

"We really don't mean any harm !" Odin said levelly.

No,...but _they_ DID..!! the beast counterred flatly with narrowed eyes. Odin knew who the beast reffered to as they, and what they'd done to the boy, and he felt anger welled up as he couldn't have done something to stop the mistreatments from the cruel men from happening, nor he had any knowledge about it.

Sorry is too-late, you know... the beast said silently. We're not creatures of prejudice, at least I teach them not to...Yet prejudice come from YOUR kind !! and flicked its head as if a shrugging gesture for human.

It snorted softly We could be vengefull more than what you could think of if we chose to...! Unlike your barely-united hierarchy, we are living as One..!!

Howard smirked sad-cynically, pack of Wilds would sacrifice theirselves as one-live for their members, how un-humane-ly...thinking what became of humanity these days, and still humans think they're the most honorable creatures on the Soil !!

"And, you want to-.."

YOU want to...!! it cocked its head again ..Take our Kidling back to your place..!

The growls graveled low frequently. The humans blinked. Yes, for Lady Deia's wishes...

There was a soft choked sound coming from the boy, and he looked as if he's swallowing the urge to gag. The men couldn't be sure as they were looking at him from behind, but he seemed as if he's coming to from somewhat a haze, his head still bowed low.

There were animal-moans of concerns from the wolves, the boy slowly lifted his head, swaying a little. His forlorn face pinched a little, and gave out a soft animal whine.

That's the only cue needed, when suddenly a flock of small wolves jumped his small crouching body from behind the giant trees.

Howard lifted both brows at the sudden affair, Odin reflexively grabbed his talisman-sword hilt in a set stance, his men jumped down from their horses on guard, the Charms stiffened in allert preparing the Waves from within for an attack if needed...the chewing camel still chewing lazily... The wolves barked madly at the humans, ready to spring in a simple movement from them, the golden beast on the far limb of the tree tsk-ed and lifted its head.

A loud reverberating howl heard long in the Forest for a several long moments. Some birds flew and small animals took fled from quite some distance around the area at the mighty sound and the sense of power it carried. The pack of wolves jumped and startled to silence, lowering their massive bodies in subdued fear. The men stilled on their spots, locked their gazes to where the howl came from.

The beast looked at the ones on the soil-ground with level impassive eyes, then jumped the umpteens storeys high down from the tree limb in one graceful leap, and landed soundlessly between the small covered-with-a-bunch-of-wolfcubs boy and the anxious men. It lowered its head so it's on the same level as the humans' on ground and flicked its eyes to the fluffy-yellow-furred-bundle behind it.

...Brats go to your babysitters..!! Now ! Go ! Shoo..!! it said flatly motioning them by swishing its longfurred tail. A few visible eyes from the bundle blinked several times. NOOOWH!!! the big beast roared.

Whines and animal moans were heard, the woflcubs rushed to get off of the crouching boy and got behind their whining adults back to the trees they came from, where a few adolescent wolves stood with surprised wide eyes, and herded the cubs with their muzzles.

Sorry about that, cubs are sometime insufferable and-... there was one cub left sniffing at Odin's feet and raised one of its hind legs up. After a shower-of-nature finished it sniffed at his legs again then took fled to where the others gone to.

All eyes trained on the general's steaming feet, he frowned deeply, the beast wrinkled its nose, the other men stared wide eyed, Howard had a hard time keeping his grin from swallowing most of his face...his camel still grinned-chewing...

...and obnoxious !! Especially that one ! the beast stared at the vanishing cub.

At least you didn't get a shower on your face while you're sleeping...-

The beast scrunched its face and grimaced, catching itsself... It looked at the men's eyes sternly Don't dwell on that thought..!!!

Howard snickered explosively, his shoulder slumped and shooked convulsively...his camel gave out the infamous strange noise of bray-laughing again. The golden beast narrowed its eyes on the old Charms, who frantically waving his right hand for appologize, while his left hand covering his face to muffle the sounds of chuckles.

The beast snorted once and rolled its eyes, then walked to the boy ...Youngsters these days; at least show some respects to the elders... and flicked its head, shrugging again.

The men let out the breath they didn't realize holding, relieved that the big beast didn't take it as an offence and that means they wouldn't have a bloody feud right then and there, and Odin's men mostly thankful to their luck to have the opportunity to see their infamous-of-glaring-death general given a shower-of-nature by a wolf-cub. Definitely not something they'd see everyday and didn't get to be the object of a death-glare by witnessing; okay, so they're considering their chance at story-telling that to their comrades back at the Castile without getting killed afterwards. But decided they wouldn't temp the Devil –the Devil here being the General, he could give them a bloody feud too and them being the bloody object of the feud.

Howard outwardly chuckled at those muttered words. "Yes, they should have. Say, how old are you anyway, I've never aquainted to any Wild like you..-"

You've never seen ANYTHING like me, I'm the only one there is, for the passed three thousand years, at least. That's why I'm called Solo... the beast looked back at the Old Charms ...I didn't really count the passing Time before that..! subtly smiled a wolf-smile for the thoughts of the General's men it smelled thick in the air. _Humans..!!_

"Really...?!" Howard widened his eyes behind his black-spectacles.

Did you make sure to look both ways for any situation here...?! the beast said cuttingly again. At the uncomprehended expressions from the men, the beast continued ...You sure it's just your royal-human finding another pet for _her_self, or..

..didn't you think that Kidling here thought he got himself another human-TOY to playwith..?

The men stunned, opening their mouth but couldn't form any word.

Ne.., Kidling..? the beast lowered its head and nuzzled the boy's side of face. He lifted his head slowly, the eyes were a bit disoriented but the beast knew he was aware of the situation to some extent. A low long whine, and the boy butted back his head to the beast's muzzle albeit weakly, his saber-cuspids had retracted back completely to his jaws, leaving no trace of their existence on the outward appearance.

The beast chuckled heartily The cubs found him a little over a year ago. The Pack took him in since then, ...my favourite toy, yoouu...! and said in a rumbling low affectionate voice, messing the already disarray brown hair with one silvery-liquid-metal arm that emerged from the beast's front forehead under his left-side triangular horn. The boy gave out a small mewling noise and closed his eyes tightly, looking more relaxed by the affectionate gesture. That only gave the beast more craving to tousle the boy's hair with another hand protruding from under the other horn.

The boy squirmed annoyed, trying to get rid the hands by his small clenched one, making sound of frustrated moans, finding no success at the effort he planted his body weight at his knees and used both his clenched hands to rid the offending metal-arms. The beast chuckled louder merrily. In the end he just pushed the beast's muzzle down in exasperated shove. The beast let itself being shoved down to the ground and rested reclining on its belly.

Suddenly the metal-hands stopped their messing and cupped the boy's face to look up, You do realize WE only play our TOY until supper, do you..?!! the voice turned cold and flat.

The boy widened his eyes, looking straight at the metalic-face that had emerged from the beast's forehead, formed as human's body from waist-up, the metal-hands still cupping the boy's face attached to the metalic-body's shoulders. The humanoid-metal looked like of a youngster of late teen-age, with supposedly layers of sheet-strands cupping 'his' face with messy points around 'his' mid-neck. Currents of golden-surge rippled on 'his' face's surface. _This_ metal-body was Solo...

The shocked striken small face lost its color dramatically, and the boy's body started to quake in no time. His eyes stared wavering and incredulously at Solo's metal eyes. The men's faces behind him were no less shocked too.

At the early signs of hyperventilation, the metal arms pull him up forward and hug him, laughing heartily again, much louder this time. The beast swept its muzzle to the boy's buckling feet and let the small boy sat on it. I'm sorry !! I'm sorry ! Just toying with you..!! The metal arm patted the small back assuringly, the other one securing the brown haired head under 'his' chin.

I really am just joking..!! It's okay, Kidling, I didn't really tell you to eat her, I'm sorry...!! The metal laughed again, the golden-surge on the face rippled to its whole body-surface with every laugh. The small boy made strangled whines/moans, clenching the metal-shoulder's, his small fingers sank under the surface, one hand clenched at his own chest.

Lessening his trembling, Solo emerged another pair of hands from 'his' body-sides under the armpits. One 'he' enfold on the boy's shoulder, and the other around the boy's hip on the muzzle. And started to craddle him up and down, giving sounds and hums of assurances altenately between affectionate chuckles. While the boy tried to make his body reactions under control again, the metal flicked 'his' eyes to the general and to Deia's prone body on the ground. Odin took the hint immediately, and subtly lifted the small girl carefully from the damp ground.

Solo cupped the boy's face again, trying to avert his eyes from seeing. I didn't mean it, you know how much I like to draw any reaction out of you... Okay ? Relax now... It's okay...! 'he' kissed his forehead once, and kept him secured with the lower-pair hands embracing his lower body.

The boy widened his eyes again as he sensed something different behind him, he forcefully turned his head between the metal's arms. His face was pinched again when he saw the violet eyed human craddled safely in Odin's arms. He let out a misserable whining moan and stretched out a hand toward _her_.

No..!! the metal crushed him to 'his' chest with all four arms. Then continue in a low soft voice in an alien language _ ..Let her be. Remember what the Whitered-Hag told you about Time..?_ The boy whimpered once, not averting his eyes from Deia.

_ ..There's only One-Past,...the Present's is uncertainty full of chances to choose and decisions to make, and the Future's a web of probabilities to continue that One-Past..!!_ The boy's lips wording mutely the spoken language distractedly, his eyes kept locked on Deia's body, at _her_ hand which unconsciously still holding the deep-blue rectrix.

_You have to choose who's gonna be part of your One-Past, and who's gonna be your Future part, in the Present..! Now... _

... You can't have both, Kidling...! a pair of metal arms cupped his face again to look up at 'his' metal eyes. You choose that human, you put me and the Pack in the Past. We have separate ways...

The boy searched frantically at the metal eyes, then shook his head forcefully in denial. He looked at Deia and back to the metal eyes a couple times, telling with his eyes desperately what his Voice couldn't at the moment.

The metal face stilled, 'his' metal brows furrowed in a thought. Moments passed, and the boy's anxious eyes turned to full expectant, with clenched hands clasped at the metal wrists cupping his face.

What's wrong with your throat...?! Solo asked levelly. The boy surprisingly let down his impassive wild mask and made a face that grimacingly annoyed, with an exasperated hiss, and unclenched his fists to scratch the metal arms with long-pointed dark-blue nails. The metal surface cut open but liquidly mend together again like stillwater.

I mean it!! Now that I think of it, I hear you growl not even once since yesterday..! 'his' furrow deepened and pouted. He growled before at your crib..?! The men stuttered for answer " .. Well..."

..See?! You didn't use your Voice, that's ussual. But didn't growl is UNUSSUAL! Right !! You didn't growl too when the Pack flocking around you just now. Yet you growled before at their place BEFORE yesterday !! You remember the Arachnysses at the Hungry Desert ?! Now that was a GROWL you gave them..!! Not a PURR..!! You called for me the day before and frantically asked me how to PURR !! What a horrid thing to do !! Wilds growl, not PURR..!! That's how we-... the metal stopped his spatting words and frowned.. What was the main idea of the topic again...??

And a big rock lodged in 'his' back of head with a loud splotching sound.

Whaaatth??!! I know I have a habit of stray-topic-ing !! 'Can't help it..!! 'he' grew another pair of hand from behind 'his' back to pick the rock off of 'his' head. Who threw this..?!! and poutingly asked at the Pack behind 'him'. Several wolves lowered their heads and gruffed, gave 'him' _the look._ A golden longfurred tail swishing for answer not too far behind, and an annoyed animal moan came from under the metal's body. Solo dropped the rock at 'his' side and arched to the side to spar a foul-staring competition with the golden beast's eye, then to teeth-baring, then to hissing and growling. The men sweatdropped at the silly antics.

This is NOT silly..!! I'm the Head of the head here-.. !! Then suddenly the boy jolt-trashing and scratching wildly with four limbs at the metal Whoaa..!! Yeaa-...Okay !! if anything he just became more violent, because everything wasn't okay, but he couldn't make 'him' understand.

...-Okay !! Stop it !! ...Before you spit out your organs because you're getting too excited, STOP..!!

Then the boy stilled, Solo's three pairs of arms holding his restive wrists and shoulders and hips looking like a scorpion. Standing wobbly on the beast's muzzle, his posture slumped, and he wheezed hardly, eyes bewildered by internal pains, the boy baring his clenched teeth in an inaudible hiss.

..Okay...! Solo said in a low tired assuring tone. You want that human.. fine ! But that human can't come with us!! The boy searched 'his' eyes frantically. No!! 'Not one of our kind! Not one of YOUR kind..!!

He whimpered a sorrowful sob, and Solo shook 'his' head slowly. No, Kid... The Pack adopted you because you're abandoned..! he whimpered harder. I'm sorry, but you were abused and abandoned we couldn't left you die in the dirt alone... But that human's different !! You see those adult humans..?! They're the human's pack..!! If we take the human with us, they'll definitely come after us to take _her_ back, and they'd want to slaughter us... just like the Pack would to the ones who took you from us! You understand...? I like bloodshed nomore than you do..!! Sad prussian eyes darkened and brimmed with sheen of tears. Solo gave a liquid sad smile ...you much too considerate creature..!!

The metal eyes looked deep into those glossy gems, let out a slow repentant 'sigh' noise, 'he' took the small wearied body to curl up in 'his' embrace. And spoke in a hushed whisper, Kidling..., this place is _her_ home, not ours..!! Our home is where we could see the moon and stars at night, and where we could sunrise-gazing together as a flock at dawn.., where you had to sit on my back because the sun blazing down so much you couldn't stand on the heated soil or rocks!! Or where you took a shelter under my body because of the rain and you're afraid of the thundering storm; and you had to sleep curled in to me blanketed by the cubs to get warm in the night. That human couldn't live in that kind of 'home'...!

_But you ARE my home, if you stay I have a home in this place too..!! You could stay in the outsides...Violet-eyed-human doesn't have to go from here...! All will be happy..!_

Solo wrinkled 'his' brows sadly at the boy's thoughts. Kidling..., the Pack comes first! Private wishes the later.., if you're part of the Pack, your needs come first WITH the Pack's. If you're out or put the Pack behind, then your desires are not my first priority..!

_Solooo...!!_ The boy mouthed 'his' name, of which 'he' took advantage as the ever opportunist.

Hold it..!! and jammed two of 'his' thumbs between his teeth at either side of the boys opened mouth. 'His' expression changed from melancholic to deep concentration, peering down inside the boy's throat. Stop squirming, or I'll shoot tendrils of me through your ears or nostrils to examine your throat, you know you hated it when I do that..!! Howard's brows shot up to his -supposed- hairline at that, the Charms let out small squeaks, while the men unconsciously shivered imagining the words, and for once the camel stopped chewing and furrowed... Odin blinked looking sidelong at the camel, so the ruminating-summon-beast can stop chewing for once too...

The metal eyes gleamed with goldenness for a while, then 'he' secured the small head back under 'his' chin, and shot a look at the old-Charms. "..We couldn't examine his internal injuries, much else treat them...!" Howard said appologetically in telephatic Harmony. The beast's eyes clouded, and Solo's metal eyes closed for a second, 'his' hands rubbed the boy's body for comforts. When 'he' openned 'his' eyes again, they were glinted with sad resolve, Solo shook 'his' head a little. Howard's eyes widened at the meaning, and cursed inside. Odin caught the small gesture too and let out a hissing breath. Several wolves whined behind.

The boy whimpered once and hugged the metal body tight. _I'm not deffective Solo don't desert me please stay...!!_

Listen, Kid, you can stay here if you want, we won't force you to come with us..!

The boy instantly looked up at the whispered words to the metal face in panic. _How could he...? Right after he plead 'him' not to leave him alone ?!_ Shhh...no, I'm not abandoning you, you're my only Kidling..! I couldn't touch other beings with this form, you know that; only you... _I_'m only _this-Solo_ for you, I'd have forgotten this form if I hadn't met you.. You're my Kidling forever!! My wunderkind..!

_. . . . . . . . . . but the Pack comes first...!_ it was a very soft echo almost unheard, if only the boy didn't have hypersensitive ears. He trembled convulsively, then bolted to the ground on his feet a few paces from the beast, standing in an indignant pose clenching tightly at his too long tunic sleeves, with face a mix of anger and sadness and pleading and pain.

That's the Rule of most packs,...otherwise they will only be living for a short time, slaughtered or divided. Being alone would be almost the same as a dead sentence... _THEN, WHY ARE YOU KILLING MEEE...?!!_ The screamed thought was almost felt like a thunderbolt to 'his' heart, Solo closed 'his' metal eyes and swallowed the pain of the accusation.

. . . . . . I'm not...!! the beast rose from the ground, Solo merged-in the additional pairs of hands back to 'his' metal body, and stretched out a hand to 'his' Kidling. Come.. we should be on our way to south...!! 'He' said almost begging.

The boy pursed his lips thin with watery eyes, unmoving. The wolves seeing their leader stood to leave, rose too, whining at their small Kidling-beast they'd adopted for over a year, their cubs' beloved _pet_. The boy dazedly turned to Deia's hand holding the deep-blue rectrix, feeling his selfishness crumbled, _just for once_, he thought, _others would care of his pleads, is that too much to ask...?!_

...We've already late for over two-moons, if we don't get on the roads now we'd get caught by the Uncanny-Storm at the Gap of Gaol..the adults could manage to come through it, but the cubs wouldn't..! Or else we'd have to wait for the next half-sundye(1) to pass the gap...!!

_You don't understand, how come you don't understand...you're Solo, you should understand me...you always do..!!_ Ever so slowly, he shifted his forlorn gaze to Deia's closed ones, then to Odin's holding Deia's body. The general stared back with a sad determination like those forged in battles. Then to Howard's, one of the Charms he'd accepted as a caregiver for the past seven weeks. The old-Charms slid down his spectacles showing his eyes, gave him a small grandfatherly assuring smile. Then back to Deia's face. _Her_ face looked peaceful in _her_ unconscious sleep, a wave of possessiveness swept him warmly, _may the rectrix keep your sleep safe from nightmares_. And blinked, imagining those violet eyes opened and seized his. She would never let him go, _at least_, he thought, _voilet-eyed-human might want to come with him or forcefully take him back to her chamber, he wouldn't mind that_. In fact, he hoped _her_ eyes would popped open any time now. A small smile he never showed at the Castile graced his face for a while, but knowing it was a futile hope, gone to a cold wild-mask again, his eyes trained at Solo's dimmed and darkened.

As if in a dream, he took a step forward to where the beast stood. The wolves waved their tails and moaned encouragingly.

"_...Prussian..."_

"_...Come back.."_

A soft voice whispered in his memory...

"_...please..."_ the voice saddened.

He stiffened and his chin trembled in indecission... he looked at Solo's clouded metal-eyes, then to the beast's awaiting golden-eyes, then to the ground. He didn't dare looking at the other wolves' eyes, nor towards the cubs, he could hear them whines and moaning, could hear their swishing tails and felt the movements in the thick Air, they woofed and chaffed and sniffed at him, smelling the doubt in him. Knowing his inclination weighed more to the humans than towards them. He knew they knew it, and their hopes and expectant sounds beginning to weigh down on his heart of heart. And he couldn't take it anymore...

The boy closed his eyes immediately, mouthed Solo's name. Solo dropped 'his' outstretched hand, knowing the boy had made his resolve... and he bolted on four limbs to the deepness of the Forest away from all of them. Away from the hurt expressions on the wolves' face, from Solo's inexpressive conceding metal-eyes, from the sounds of wailing and keening cubs gouging his heart. The humans's surprised stares felt like frozen spears on his back, ...he wanted to run away from them too, _why couldn't they make it easier for him..,for all of them...?!_

_...And all will be happy..._ He closed his eyes trying to prevent the tears from falling, he never cried before he met the Pack, and Solo... he wouldn't cry now when he's running away from them.

His vision blurred but he didn't stop running...

"...You drove him away on purpose..." Howard said silently without acussation, just acknowledgment... The golden beast moaned silently, Solo's metal-eyes were still locked to where his Kidling had vanished to. ...Yes..

...He'll hate me for pushing him.., it's better than hating himself..! the silent voice softly echoed like a breeze. He does that a lot...!! ..Thinking that he deserves to be the one hurting.. alone...! Solo looked at the humans, then to the grounds, 'his' voice murmured ...he some times strayed out of the Pack's sanctuary to keep them save...But then, what good of a pack if we couldn't... 'his' metal eyes clouded.

..The people... The _others_ ! ..subjected to him treated him... unscrupuously ..ruthless...!! Those immoral sinful bastards..!! Solo growled, the beast baring its teeth under 'his' metal body. The men blinked at the hatred curse. Solo looked to the trees behind the humans, 'his' left metal-arm absent-mindedly stroking the beast's side-face, 'his' heart yearning to stroke a small brown haired head instead.

...When the cubs found him... 'he' cocked 'his' head to the side ..They were sitting on the rockplanes under the mountain surrounding something...bad..! Solo furrowed 'his' brows while the beast under 'him' scrunching its face. ...It was a dried pile of something... Even I had a hard time recognizing _it_.. _It_ was... A golden surge rippled through him like a shiver.

He was so broken he didn't even look humanoid...!! 'he' stared pointedly at Howard's eyes.

How could they do that to their youngster...?! the beast's eyes were seizing Odin's, knowing the general knew about another 'they' he could reffer to in this land.

The humans didn't try to say anything, they couldn't voice about their feelings over such situation. They could only vow subtly that it wouldn't happen again, if they have a say about it, if such situation ever occurs again..., gods forbid it would !

...Mistakes bound to repeat themselves...!! Solo flicked 'his' eyes to Deia's peaceful face. "..NO-..!!" Howard and Odin reflexively defending her.

I'm not accusing..!! 'he' said soflty, cutting. ...I just... Could you please try to help him...to seek help..? 'he' frowned in despise ..That... _blasted-craft_.. is eating him alive from the insides...!! I couldn't.. The beast sigh in tired defeat ...I have other responsibilities I couldn't neglect...! the wolves whined behind 'them'.

"...Allright, we'll try our best..!-"

Trying is not good enough..! Solo folded 'his' arms on 'his' chest, golden surges rippled every time his surface touched each exterior-side of 'his' body. This creature has a habit of cutting other's words too, Howard noted.

Nodded "We'll DO our best ! I have quite aquaintances I could ask for help, we'll go abroad if we have to...!" Howard amended. Solo just staring at him. "...He'll be safe in the heart of this land..!" he added reffering to the Castile, as the most protected place in that land. Somehow he caught the unvoiced warning that there were some _ones_ who would what to hurt the boy intentionally, out there.

"That void-craft...-" Odin said distractedly. Couldn't be taken cared off by your magics, I know. And you wouldn't find many literatures about the thing too... just consult about it with the kid, he's the one survived it so far.. albeit barely...!

Howard's brows lifted in a new perceptive. Suddenly Solo laughed bending his metal-body forward ...Are you kidding...?!! The kid's a genius, if not he wouldn't even survive a contact with that craft-thing..!! Howard blinked, that's why there had been two kinds of power within the boy...?

Solo smirked Next time, ask him what he needs when you try to mend the kid, he knows better how to mend himself than any of you...! Howard blinked again. But the boy was unconscious almost all the time the first month.

Duhh..!! Solo slapped 'his' right hand dramatically at 'his' forehead, let out a groan, the beast let out a 'woof'-groan under 'him', and 'he' brought the open-clawed hand scratching deep in 'his' liquid-metal face in exasperation. The hand stopped still covering his mouth. You tried to speak to him with your-kind of magics..? How about just think it in your head, and he could smell your intention in the air, or just lick it...?!

Howard, the general, and two Charms blinked at that... _Oh, so that's why he did the sniffing and licking at everyone..?? To know who got the 'things' he needed to mend himself...?_

Solo tsk-ed half grimacing He'd thrown you when you force-mend him..? The Charms blinked.

Hn..! Good for you, then..!! At least you still got everything intact !

You see my hands, here...? the metal body bent backwards uncomfortably, 'his' upper hand lifted up leaving the lowers dangling I have nothing to recline on, now..!! . Pause...blink..no comprehension...

These horns..!! 'he' said exasperated slapping hard at the small triangular horns behind 'his' body. The beast groan. ...were used to be this long..!! 'he' motioned the length of them from the forehead to the beast's mid-neck that formed arcs backward like mountain-goat's or gazelle's. I used to be able to recline like this..!! Solo mimicked the pose ...and I was just trying to mend the kid with MY power, and he wolved them all in a blast...!! I thought we're the wolves ones...!!!

...blink...

Solo rolled his eyes ...He ate them, okay..?! Thousands of years of growing, and he swallowed them in an exploding-second...!! Howard's lips quirked in a grimace ...RIGHT!! He threw you to the walls, well good for you for not having compatible-raw-power with his vibes..!! 'he' pouted. Behind 'him' a few wolves groaned ...Oh, shut up...!! . Huff...

... "...Huh...?"

My horns are collected raw-power from my surroundings...! Like from supernatural-caused elements at some specific places, such as ire-dirts, thunders, or storms...- -squeak-

...We have to run off before the Uncanny-Storm at the Gap of Gaol outbreaks...!! The wolves groaned again behind, the golden beast gave a wolf-snort under. ...Whaaatt..?! So I also got a habit of being carried away, since it's no fun having a chat with any of you...!! –that included the beast under 'him' too, who wolf-groused at 'him', and distractedly turned around, still having arguments with its metal other-self's head, and leave the humans sweatdropping on their spots. Some wolves whined and gruffed at the direction the boy had gone to, still could smell him in the Forest's air, then herded their cubs to follow their preoccupied leader. Vanishing by the giant tree trunks.

... "...That was...-"

"..-good for us..!" Howard cut Odin' words and blinked impulsively. His camel started chewing again...

-tbc

(1) _sundye_; a year time.. As one of the Ancients -creatures/beings- Solo used their terms as they belief (or beable to see) that the sun's color/corona changes its color every year. Some used the term of _sun-crown._

...saru made the concept for a comic project's story, but think it's okay to be used in a fanfic... (right, Oni-tan...???? ...-NOT..??!!!)


	7. archantra

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku june 29, 2006 **

** 7 Archantra**

_... Have faith...!_

_The soft heavenly Voice whispered within the currents of Time in the One-Past... He openned his eyes to see the ocean-of-lights and the sky's-eyes, looking down at his battered body in the warm hands of winds, caressing his soul with unheard mellody..._

_He smiled... in his heart of heart, too exhausted to do it physically... His body felt like it's molten together with the rocks under him. Relief washed him like The Great-Water's streams, torrents of unforgiving flood of unleashness he'd yearned for for eternity... He closed his eyes, a song never been heard echoing in his Owned-space, it felt so familiar he could swear his soul singing it together with the echo's... a Mourn's song... his mind supplied, and the unforgiving flood of relief washed him towards Death's waiting hands... He smiled.., in his heart of heart... _

... "They're gone...!" a warm grandfatherly voice sounded from far under him.

He knew that voice from somewhere recently, the language was different from what he used to hear from another old-man's voice he used to be frightened of... he clamped his mouth tighter...

"_He_ told us to look after you..." the voice continued carrying a smile in it "...you're our responsibility now...!"

...If possible the small body curled tighter on itself... tighter and balled smaller, smaller to invisible...but that was futile thought, he let out a strangled sob.

"...Come, now... Lady Deia will be worried sick if we leave you here alone...!"

His frustration exploded to anger at the mention of the name, he bolted to standing pose, looking down at the humans staring at his spot on the far tree limb with warm air of comforts surrounding their atmosphere... He glowered at the old Charms who smiled at him warmly...how he hated those warmness at this time...He hated..he hated Solo for making him had to choose...he hated the humans for not making it easier for him and the Pack... he hated the white colorless lands that made him feel the only one tainted... he hated the Air that's too thick to breath and full of invisible alien-substances and poisons... he hated himself that he hated Solo... he hated himself more that he hated himself over the-now-gone Solo... most of all, he hated to hate...

Closed his eyes_... if he could just vanish..., all will be happy..._

_...Have faith...!_

The heavenly Voice echoed in his heart of heart... and he yielded...

Howard smiled a bigger smile, staring at the prussian colored eyes filled with sad acquiscence up on the tree limb, he reached out a hand towards the boy.

He stared at the hand unwaveringly, his face dull and tired, not moving the slightest. Howard blinked once, and suddenly Odin handed the old-Charms Deia's sleeping form that cocooned in her pashmina, he accepted the precious bundle carefully without saying anything. The boy, even if he'd accepted him as a caregiver, still have contradictions with Harmony; being a Charms, he's one of the contradiction-trigger, he shrugged...

Odin unmounted from his black warsteed fluidly, then stood near the tree trunk, he looked up seizing the boy's eyes and reached up both his hands open. The small boy moved his gaze to the general, who stood there like an open pillar of strength... _he smelled like Solo a little..._ His mind whispered to himself, closing his eyes, he let his small body plunged down to where those hands waiting... The other humans gasped behind Odin and Howard, he could felt it in the air... _like the wind's utterance, lulling him to Death's waiting hands..._

He opened his eyes in an instant and bended his lower body forward, planted his feet at the tree trunk to stop himself from falling further... Odin's waiting hands or Death's that he didn't want, he couldn't be sure... _just stop falling..._ he told himself. His body stopped its momentum after some distance of scratch-sliding on the trunk, in a crouching pose, a few meters above the humans... above Odin...

..._stop falling...!_

He gazed at Odin's eyes, recognizing the strict-protectiveness in the general's hard gaze. _He wanted those strict-protection again...it was like the Solo-beast's...strict and authoritarian and sheltering..._ Odin let down his strict-general's face a little, and tried a small smile like the ones he used to give to Deia and Lyea, and subtly to his Lord although behind his back... _but warm..._

Staightening his body, the boy slowly walked vertically down the tree trunk. Those watching him showed varied surprises, he was descending with slow easy steps uninfluenced by the gravity, then stopped a couple of paces from Odin's hands, shifted his gaze at the open palms.

The other humans unconsciously kept their breaths carefully, not wanting to break the proceeding event. The boy stretched out his right hand to Odin's, ever so slowly touched one of the finger tip, then carefully traced the hand's form with feather-light touches. He stopped after a while, curled his fingers and stared at them, noting the difference between their hands, his nails were pointed at the end and of rich dark-blue color.

Odin held his breath, waiting any reaction from the boy who stood unmoving staring at his own hand. After what felt like ages, the boy looked up to his eyes again, then surprisingly he smiled and let himself dropped to his waiting hands. The small light body landed on his left shoulder and he embraced it out of reflex, the brown haired head tucked near his head felt almost weightless. Surprised, Odin turned his head a little to see the boy's face. His eyes were closed, but his expression was relieved, although tinged with sadness, Odin could hear it in the boy's breath. He flicked his eyes to Howard's, either asleep or unconscious at least the boy could stop worrying for now, and let the adults worry about him for a while.

"...He's beautiful.." Odin said silently, stroking the boy's bangs out of his face "...like water-tree...!"

Howard blinked his surprise at the soft words of the general's, usually he wouldn't voice his thoughts over such things as beautiful like that, but the old-Charms knew inside the strict-soldier exterior lies a tender-peaceful heart he never showed everyone.

...Water-tree.., so the general still haven't forgotten about that yet... Howard managed a smile at him, watching Odin draped his cloak over the small figure and mounted his warsteed, the small boy secured to his body with one gentle hand.

Odin nodded to his men, and they all started to the Castile again in light pace, not wanting to disturb the exhausted sleep of the small beast and lady, knowing they wouldn't beable to teleport themselves once they got out of the Forest since they had the boy with them. So they just took the relief as what it was and contented themselves that they could bring back the ones they're after for savely. Neither human nor Charms spoke in the ride back to the Castile... No Wilds came in their way either, the golden beast's howl must have driven them all away earlier. May be the beast had meant it that way back then...Howard smiled to himself, that Solo-beast was over-protective..!

_...the blackness was extremely unpleasant, He find it unpenetrable even with the lights within his heart.. cold and harsh, He felt the surrounding void swallowing him...little by little, inch by inch, limb by limb...his face...his long hair... but strangely the void covering his heart felt like sheltering now...not like the prior darkness that always condemning him in emptyness... _

_...something warm but pleasantly cool touched his hand... it's still not the time to wake up yet, but He could at least open his eyes now..._

Lyea smiled at the slowly opened eyes, "..Hallo, Dearest,...how are you feeling now...?" noting the peaceful contented expression she'd never seen on the angelic face before.

The eyes blinked once, sleepy and calm, the surroundings still felt like a dream...a peaceful one. Impulsively shifted the gaze at where the warm pleasant cool felt on the hand, there laid the small boy unmoving, still like a dead, but knowing that he's very much alive, the small lifting of his chest from each breath felt like a blessing on the hand draped over his craft-plate. Deia smiled...may be it's really just a dream, _her_ Prussian was never living _her_...a peaceful dream... Not the time to wake up yet...!

The sleepy eyes closed again... the smile never leaving even when the darkness tried to consume HIM again...

"...Ah!! It's about time you wake up...!" Lyea's voice sounded real this time. Deia opened _her_ eyes to her greeting smile above _her_ face, cool fingers felt on _her_ forehead. _Her_ hand felt bereft... she turned _her_ head to where _she_ remembered Prussian was lying... finding only empty side on _her_ bed.

Panic seized _her_ like a maelstrom, _she_ stared at Lyea's eyes with increasing anxiety.

"...Sis...?!"

Lyea sighed a knowing smile, Deia only calls her 'sister' when _she_'s in troubled state. With a forefinger on her lips, she motioned the bathroom with her head. Deia bolted there like a hurricane...

Voicing her amusement, Lyea dropped her hand on her lap, and shrugged to herself.

The double doors banged to the walls with such force the bottles of toiletries on the shelves aligning the walls and the floor heard rattling by the impact. A wine-color haired maid _she_ knew had helped taking care of _her_ Prussian before was crouching on the edge of the hexagonal small pool in the center of the bathroom, she straightened her pose looking at Deia's posture, her hand propping her body on the alevated steps around the pool.

Deia searched the maid's face distractedly, she was the maid who'd taken care of _her_ when _she_ was still in _her_ early years, but strangely _she_ couldn't put her name in _her_ mind. The maid smiled, Deia stared. Something caught _her_ eyes amidst the mist of warm water in the small pool...brown color covering prussian glints... _Her_ breath caught...

A loud splashing sound and a flood of exploding water and a squawk of a maid's voice later found a very wet messy bathroom, a surprised but stilled Prussian in a very ecstatic overjoyed-yelling Deia's embrace, and an exasperated maid yelling "...Lady Deia...!! That's very unmannerly of youuu...!!!" at the top of her lungs but poorly couldn't matched Deia's yells...

"...Haaaa..ahh.., children...!" Lyea sigh with ease, sitting on Deia's bed...a smile plastered pleasantly on her face. More than two weeks of sleep, and the comet-child burning with energy again. It was almost too long to wait... _she_ was almost in a coma from accelerating too much Harmony, their father had been frantic..

"THIS is The Great-Arc...!" Deia pointed the river in the map, _she_ and Prussian were crouching over the large vellum-scroll of map on the floor. "That's the river's name where I chased you on..." _She_ smiled at _her_ side, Prussian blinked assessing the map's simbols. Many unfamiliar signs were accompanying the simbols of places, making patterns of basedly hexagonals designs. Some signs he assumed were somekind of spell-writings, but he couldn't placed which of which and the simbol-kinds was foreign to him. He couldn't even decipher the letters inscripted on the vellum.

After a few moments, he realized Deia had stopped _her_ explaining. He flicked his gaze to _her_ at his rightside, and blinked when encountered Deia's eyes gazing deeply at his. _She_ smiled warmly.

"Anything caught your interest...?"

Prussian stared back at _her_ long, then turned his head back to the map. He pointed the letters and simbols and signs and pattern-designs. Deia laughed heartily at that. "Slow down, we'll get to every each of them eventually...!!"

He stared back at _her_, then pointed the pattern-designs of hexagonals only. Deia noted he'd pointed in the right Order-of-the-year's pattern, how he'd known that _she_ couldn't placed. May be _her_ Prussian was just doing it accidentally, but the affair in the Forest flashed in _her_ mind, the Solo-beast had called him a genius. Well may be he'd puzzled out the patterns unknowingly without understanding the meaning, if that's possible...

"That's Order-of-the-year..! You got it in the right succession order, you know ?" At the uncomprehension in his face _she_ laughed again. "Here..!" _She_ spread _her_ hands above the vellum, Prussian jumped a few paces behind in surprise. Deia stilled and looked at him. Then smiled, "It's okay, I won't use Harmony. It's called successive-summoning, well at least these days we call it that... In the far past they used to call it in ancient terms. Hm, I never could remember the term, it's too mouthful for even my mouth...!!" _she_ giggled. The spread fingers made some intricate movements in the Air, then the patterns on the map glowed, the lights-designs lifted from the vellum and floating an adult's hand-wide distance above it.

Prussian stared frozen, Deia noted the expression on his face was of amusement and conception, _she_ wouldn't call it comprehension yet, though. He slowly crawled on four approaching the map, the lights-designs reflections glinted in his eyes, making them translucent like real fine-cut gemstones. Deia blinked, how could one's eyes could be like that ?

"You want to touch it..? It's okay !" _She_ smiled when Prussian hesitantly lifted his hand on the floor. He licked his lips once, his tounge was light-blue colored, _she_'d never seen him done it before, he worried his lower lip after that, contemplating something. Prussian lifted his right forefinger, slipped it under the floating designs and slowly touched the underside surface. It's rippling like water's surface but the lights-designs didn't disrupted by the ripples, he blinked, stared long. If Deia knew better _she_ would've called it that he's remembering... Then a liquid smile blossomed on his face, Deia made a soft appreciative sound for that smile, _her_ heart fluttered and _she_ felt a blush rising on _her_ face. _She_ cleared _her_ throat silently.

Prussian was musedly sliding his finger on the design's under-surface, watching with interest that when he'd made some lines of succession, some other intricate designs would emerged from the surface, beautiful and arcane in different colors and brightness. Deia watched fixedly at his excited face. Well, two could play at the game...!

_She_ pointed at one point then to another on the design's upper-surface, Prussian blinked, worried his lower lip again, then licked it. He made an intricate line between the two spots Deia pointed, his finger smoothly cursored over some signs and simbols, and ended at his starting point. The intricate-line he made shone brightly and more phantasmargorias of lights emerged, connecting the two spots Deia had pointed earlier. He stared at them in amusement, in the contrary Deia gasped then widely wiped the upper-surface with one hand. The additional patterns gone instantly, leaving the rippling surface and the same reflection of original-designs from the vellum of map under it.

Prussian widened his eyes in surprise, his body stiffened. Soft fingers sought his forehead slowly, he pricked a little. "...Prussian..." Deia's soft voice not sounded angry, but strained. He slowly turned his head to face _her_, _her_ fingers cleared the bangs out of his sight. _She_ was looking at his eyes deeply, _her_ face was serious, and he knew it was _the other_'s face.

"You know what it was you showed me...?" the whispered voice sounded more stern then Deia's typical.

He apprehensively shook his head a little. The violet eyes fixed at his darkened a little. "...You understand the conception, though...?!" the silvery-light-purple brows furrowed a little. Fearing whether he'd made a mistake, Prussian only worried his lower lip as answer. The other's brows furrowed a little more, the darkened violet eyes searching his wide prussians for some time.

Then the other's lips quirked a little sinister smile, his breath caught at the feral glints in the darkened violet eyes. The eyelids drooped a little like a lazy lion's gaze, and moved the face forward to his left ear, their cheeks brushed ghostly, the scent he smelled from the other's was not Deia's scent. He blinked, his mind was hazy and he felt his surrounding faded to a dreamlike scenery. But it wasn't a bad experience, the heady scent filled his mind like forgotten memory...

"...Don't show that to anyone...!" the whisper somehow brought him back to his reality. "And, don't ever tell anybody that you understand, either...!!"

A hand stroked his back soothingly, he inhaled deeply then. "...okay...?" The whisper sounded subdued and softer. He nodded a little once. _The other_ pulled back, and smiled strangely at him, although he'd found it pleasant.

"Now, back to reconnaissance of the landscape, all right...?!" Deia's voice back to cheerful and warm.

He stared...

"...Howard..!" Deia peeked in from the slate of the unclosed door of Howard's study.

"Lady Dee..! Come in !" the old-Charms smiled from between scrolls of vellums and mountaning stacks of books. He'd been drowning himself in them lately. His smile subdued a little, giving Deia a knowing gaze "..., Child..!" he amended. _Deia_ would call him 'How-ward'.

"...'something wrong...?" he asked lifting one of his grayish brows.

Deia entered and closed the door silently, _her_ fingers worried the fabric of _her_ dress unconsciously, _she_ stood at the door as if guarding the entryway for a while, all the time _her_ contemplative gaze look somewhat far away. Howard waited patiently, scrutinizing _her_ posture, the Air surrounding _her_ felt more controled, with wisps of subtle immense power _she_ must have not realized _she_'s been releasing. But other then that he couldn't read more, that's one of the basic skills of Charms, to not let others to read your abbility so easily. He was pleased, Lady Deia was sometimes reckless that he had to remind _her_ to be more subtle with _her_ charms, for all knowledge there was never a female Charms, if _she_ cannot be subtle with _her_ powers then what good a disguise as a girl _she_'s in now...? This was the other, no, the real Deia who hides inside, his heart fluttered that the real-one trusts him enough to show itself in front of him.

Suddenly he realized the violet eyes burned at his with a furrow. "...What're you thinking ?" _She_ asked levelly, a little annoyed with the oldman's look.

Howard shook his head with a smile "Anything you want to discuss with me ?"

"Ah...well..." Deia furrowed deeper. _She_ tsk-ed then streched _her_ righthand open-palmed at him. Howard lifted his brow in question, but complied, stretched his open palm above _her_ palm. His face subdued. The affair with the map in _her_ room reflected in his mind like real-memory of his own.

"Hmm...that's interesting !" he said pulling back his hand after a while.

"That's it...?!" Deia asked flatly.

"Just tell him to keep it a secret !"

Deia furrowed again looking at the floor. "...He knows how to disassemble this-..." _She_ clamped _her_ mouth shut, knowing the Air could 'hear' _her_ words and send them anywhere in the land. _...-this Land's spell-wards..!!_

"He didn't know what it is, he just understands the concepts..!" he shrugged.

"Isn't it making it more worrysome..?!"

"How's he been doing ?"

"Howard, don't change the subject...!" Deia said impassively.

Howard laughed a little "He hears to you..! He'll do what you told him, don't worry yourself too much !"

Deia looked at him long, Howard had reflected to _her_ the affair in the Forest about the wolf pack and Solo, but some details he'd kept from _her_. _She_ couldn't prod him while he reflected, that'd be discourteous. Same with the other two Charms. Odin would know if _she_ take reflection from his memory, although he's not blessed with charms, he had the talisman-sword with him 8 days a week..! –that means Odin has a ghost-day every week..!- Deia rolled _her_ mind's eyes. The men guards..., well _she_ had strict prohibition for using _her_ charms to other people outside _her_ inner-circle of family, even if they're Odin's men _she_ cannot be reckless to let _her_ charms exposed. _She_ couldn't do it secretly like _she_ did with those villagers and mercenaries and hunters...well, even if _she_ was famous for being impulsive _she_ couldn't suddenly hug those men guards thanking them for bringing _her_ Prussian back, for excuse, that'd be too late now...!! Deia sighed in defeat, _her_ heart lifted a little that Howard didn't take Prussian's knowledge as something offensive, _she_'d feared that _her_ Prussian would be taken away if other knows what he's able to do, to know. Knowing that his knowledge about the Land's assembled wards would be disastrous if wrong kind of people get ahold of it would mean _taken away_ was really to be eliminated..!

Closing her eyes at _her_ uncanny thoughts, _she_ smiled to _her_self with forced relief.

"Thank you..!" _she_ said silently walking towards the door.

"Child,.." Howard's voice stopped _her_ from pulling the door handle open "...would you..?" he asked in subdued voice –_let him be eliminated..._

Deia stilled for sometime, then turned _her_ head to face him, _her_ face was of full determination that _she_'d better fight the whole Land than to let him be slaughtered. "Would YOU...?!" _her_ voice steeled.

Howard smiled knowingly.

Deia opened the door and left silently...

"It's me...!" Deia called out from the double black doors, when the doors opened themselves _she_ entered with a tray of foods in _he_r hands.

Prussian was crouching under the corner-table where he'd hid the first time he arrived, watching _her_ with darkened hesitant eyes.

Deia smiled warmly, put the tray at _her_ side in front of the scrolled vellum on the floor. "What's wrong..? I wasn't angry with you !" _She_ took the scroll back to the shelf near the bookracks, took two books out and sat down on where they'd been crouching over the map before.

After explaining the Land's landscape on the map, _her_ anxiety over the subject of his knowledge had increased with each passing time, he must've smelled it from _her_, and fearing _she_ would reject him again.

"Come..! I brought some snacks and lots of fruits. NOT salty snacks, don't worry !" _She_ smiled again patting the spot next to _her_. It's disconcerted _her_ a little when finding out that salt burns his tongue but he never told or showed _her_ before. He always thinks that he had to endure everything and to not have objections over the situations he's been put in, must have what had been ingrained by those abusers who'd raised him before Solo's pack found him. How _she_ wanted to track them down and beat the hell out of them ! If they already living in a hell they called home then _she_'ll show them what 'more then hell' is all about...!!

Deia blinked once, something nudged _her_ mind. _She_ turned _her_ head to find Prussian looking at _her_ with closed expression and sad air around him. He must've smelled what _she_'d been thinking, clear like the mind-reflections the Charms used to share to each others. _Her_ eyes softened at him.

_She_ stood and took his hand and silently led him to his spot near the books. He obeyed without protest. When he'd seated _she_ sat behind him and held him tenderly, rocking him slowly, humming a song _she_'d remember as a distant lullaby from forgotten language _she_'d known in _her_ dreams. Tucking _her_ head over his shoulder. _She_ never said sorry to him anymore, knowing that he'd never deny _her_ pleads even if he wanted to, so this is how _she_ express _her_ concerns now, it worked better then words...

"Say..., Pru... would you want me someday...?" _she_ asked in a whisper.

_She_ laughed a little ironic laugh. "You know... Mother and Father were childhood friends, Father said he'd fallen in love with her since they were younger than my age now..!"

... "It didn't matter that the to-be Lords were not from royal lineages, Archantra always has daughters to carry out the Land as legacy and bloodline, so there shouldn't have been any son..." _she_ thinned _her_ trembling lips. The rejection from the whole Land felt drilling _her_ heart unforgivingly, for not being what _she_ should have to be, for secretly deceiving them even knowing the consequences, to be denied _her_ own self by even _her_ so-called family... For denying _her_self _her_ own feelings.

"I mean..." _her_ whisper broke a little, _she_ tried again after taking a deep shaky breath "...I mean, you don't have to... BE.. with..." _she_ let out an explosive breath.

"Just... just to want _me_ someday..." _-the real me..._

The breeze blew softly from the opened windows. _She_ tightened _her_ hold on his smaller body, still rocking gently. A soft krrrcking sounded near _her_ ear, _she_ blinked once and turned _her_ head a fraction towards Prussian's face, another krrrck sounded longer and firmer this time.

She smiled sadly...

"That's one of the six Stalwarts...!" bended over the balustrade of _her_ balcony, Deia pointed the blur of gigantic pillar in the distance that could be seen above the Forest's canopy. The kaleidoscope from the Stratus gave multicolors of layers as it was near dusk, the Air seemed to glow together like a blanket of shining colors as if you could touch them with your hand.

The Stalwarts as Deia had explained to him earlier were the pillars supporting the Stratus that serve purpose as the ceiling of the whole-land. The Stratus itself was actually layers of airborne-cysts that weaved together making a very thick shell, _so if it was layers as in plural why does it named Stratus as in single...?_ Prussian blinked, staring at the one Stalwart that could be seen from Deia's chamber.

The Stalwarts themselves were actually giant **mushrooms** -of that he'd found out by himself when he'd wandered alone before the villagers and mercenaries captured him-, some big big mushrooms that's grew up to the sky that somehow have their cysts up side down and enclosed the whole land in giant 'cocoon' of hexagonal based _...so, if the cysts were up there, that means the mushroom-hats were underground...??_ He blinked again... _That's not right...if they're underground then they wouldn't be called 'hats', right...???_

Prussian furrowed... Deia stared, a smile on _her_ face... The kaleidoscope shining his face made him looked ethereal, the cool winds blew his unrully hair that caressed his cherubic face with featherlight touches. His impassive face was a magnet to others, without him realizing it, _she_ had to keep the maids out of his way behind his back... well, the maids that're not minding him as a beast, that is... With a furrow on his face like this, _she_'d have to chase them away from him if they ever see...! How cuuuute...!!!

Prussian turned his face to _her_... Deia caught _her_self again and turned _her_ head back to the landscape before them. Feeling the prussian orbs burned to _her_..

"Oh, look..!" _Thank gods for the divertion..!!_ "It's showering there !" _she_ pointed to the Stratus's surface that was started to pour down its dust-of-lights, an intricate design shimmered on the Stratus, rippled to the surrounding surface.

Dust of shines and lights showered down like rain _...Those are the mushroom spores..! _Since Archantra was never had the touch of sun-light, the people had to use other energy-sources for their living, the spores carried somekind of energy which made them shine, the basic material of the spores themselves would be part of the Land's soil, the white dirts. But as the spores were so small, they were mostly burned down in energy-producing, living a very small amount of white waste matters after. The nature-system had been evoluting for a thousand years –as Deia had told him earlier was the Land's age to this present-, it made the inhabitants evolved also, the white plants, animals, humans' snow-white skins, their hair-colors and eyes, and everything else. His tan skin stood out for certain amongst this land's inhabitants..

_Those things are the ones responsible for the thick air..!! _Prussian furrowed deeper staring at the showering Stratus's surface far away. _They were the alien substances and poisons...well of course, they're spores of giant alien fungus...!! The humans here had become so dependant to those fungus and their spores that they even lived the poisonous air they called Air and made it their source of magics...! So that's why they were very concern about the outerlands since they couldn't use their magics freely...?!_

The prussians orbs clouded a little _...Solo's right, this is my-human's home...!_ He sighed softly _...I wonder if this land's humans couldn't survive the outer atmosphere since they live this Air for their whole lives... _he snorted _...I wonder if I could survive this AIR for that long...!!_

"Say, Prussian... the shower is mostly heading this way...!" Deia's cheerful voice brought him back from his musing. "Do you know where it spread before this place..?!"

He stared, ...Deia had a delightful expression on _her_ face, showers were _her_ favourite nature, the dust-of-lights were a blessing for Charms as they renew their Harmony. The Order, the designs on the Stratus's surface, was their natural tutor of magics, the designs were in successions that were almost as a book of how-to-do-magic, a very very large book which everyone in the Land could see, so it's like a great indiscriminate school of the whole land...

He stared longer... he likes real rains better, felt more reviving and fresh, though sometimes the rainy weather got too cold and he had to be wet all the time during those bad weathers, not to mention the thunders and storms, the blizzards, even. He already missed the outerlands, the colorfull scenery and bad weathers. He missed being miserable on the colorful bad weathered outerlands. He missed being miserable but pampered by the Pack...he missed Solo...!

"Well...?" Deia asked again excitedly.

He lifted his right hand and pointed at some point in the distance, as if on cue the Stratus's surface there started to shower down, the intricate design on it was different from the first shower point, he worried his lower lip while calculating the design and pointed at another point on the surface, of which started to shower down too at his pointed finger. The design there was smaller, he blinked, put his finger between his lips and absently chewing it gently. The succession was in an order of timing too, he noted, the map didn't showed that much. He looked at the Stratus's surface above their heads, turned his head in a few directions as if searching. After sometime, he pointed above the Castile's right sides, and turned sharply to the opposite sides. Almost in the same time the shower began forming a curving design around the Castile's Stratus –'guess you couldn't call it the Castile's skies-, the showering dust blew genlty by the wind and rained on them silently.

Deia excitedly clapping _her_ hands and praising him, delightful by the showers upon them. _She_ laughed and started singing, dancing in circles and spreading _her_ hands welcoming the showers. It suited _her_ very much, floating between the dust-of-lights and singing a Fairs' song in an angelic voice, looking beautiful and blissful. All the time calling his name to join _her_ dancing between _her_ song.

He looked serene for a moment, drowning in the sight of his human _...It suited my-human...!_ He smiled a little smile at the sightof_ her_. Then a cough escaped his throat, he quickly covered his mouth with a hand, feeling a coppery tang bile rising from his insides. His eyes darkened. He desperately tried to swallow and hold it down, and subtly returned to Deia's chamber, crouching behind the drape of the bed's canopy under his side of Deia's bed.

_...it doesn't suit me...!_

He laid his head on his hands on the floor, willing his body to get better, his prussian eyes blackenned. Deia's singing outside the balcony lulled him to painful exhausted sleep. A dark blood colored crystalline rolled down to the floor from his slackened grasp.

His heart-of-heart dimmed for a restless slumber.

He closed his eyes...

-tbc


	8. found

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku july 31, 2006 **

** 8 Found **

_one violet eye glowed in the darkness..._

_. . . . . . . . . (1)((...'Şhââri, Little Human...)) a soft echo murmured like wind in the dark cavern _

_the prussian ones stared wide, transfixed and unwavering_

'_...Hello...' the small boy's whisper sounded loud in the enclosed hollow_

_((...what hell chased you to this jinxed place..?))_

_the prussian eyes kept staring, his small body dripping with blood, it sounded louder than his weary breaths, fogged in the cold damp air of the place_

_((..well, ...I haven't been out for quite a long while, but I remember a war-beaten soldier who dripped less blood than you do...!))_

'_...nothing to do with war... It's just usual-dailies..!' the boy whispered distractedly_

_((Usual-daily thing...?)) the echo sounded a little surprise, although the dispiritedness it carried were much clearer than the owner's form ((...hmm.. in that case, I shall retract my question ...You live in hell, then...!))_

_the boy said nothing in a long pause, his eyes consuming the figure sitting in front of him like sand absorbing a thin layer of morning dew... dry and coarse, but somehow enchanting to see its grains glimmered, reflecting what-lights in the cavern_

_((...You have something in mind..?)) _

_the boy hummed almost soundlessly_

'_. . . . . . . . You're not a girl...'_

_((No... I wasn't..!)) the echo sounded a little amused_

'_...you're too beautiful to be a boy...!'_

_the echo let out a sighlike soft snicker, the big cross enfolded by the figure's right hand hiding half of its face stood solid in the dark. Its bars were glinted sharply as if they were blades.. The stalactites/stalagmites had columned together and barricaded him in the middle of a natural cage-like prison of pillars, the edges of the veil-cloth under his bended feet had blended with the ground deposit, rooting him in place like radicles of some beautiful exotic plant.. if not for them then the figure would have been completely floating, diverged from its surrounding and the world _

_((...I guess I wasn't one, either...)) the echo carried a sad smile in it. The boy cocked his head a little, contemplating..._

'_You're a-duo, then...?'_

_(('A-duo'...? . . . . .You mean 'both'...?!)) the echo sounded more amused now, followed by a silent chuckle_

_((Little Human, I was NEITHER... but if you'd like to categorize me, then I'd say I was closer to a male..!))_

_the boy's brows furrowed a little_

'_..Was ?'_

'_Which are you now...?'_

_((...None ...I'm nothing now...!))_

'_You couldn't be nothing, I could see you...!'_

_((Yes... you'd be better if you couldn't, though...))_

'_. . . . .why not ?'_

_the echo didn't answer..._

'_...Why're you here..?' _

_the dripping blood sounded thicker and infrequent, his blood had started to congeal_

_((Waiting...))_

'_For whom..?'_

_((For what's to happen...))_

'_What is to happen ?'_

_((...found...!))_

'_...to be found ?! By whom...?'_

_((The One I love...!)) there's a flicker of wistful longing in the echo_

'_. . .Your loved-one will find you ? When...?'_

_a flicker of jealousy and resignation heard in the boy's voice, the echo didn't answer again_

'_How long have you been here waiting...?'_

_((Long..!))_

'_You don't look much too older than me... How old are you ?' to the boy's eyes the figure looked like of 13-14 years of age, aside that the figure's appearance hadn't changed a bit from time to time..._

_((...I don't know ...I don't age, I just be...!))_

_the boy's furrow deepened_

'_How come you don't..?! Everybody ages...!'_

_((...because I was Death...Death doesn't have lifespan..))_

'_Was...?'_

_((...was..)) the echo quieted_

'_...What are you now ?'_

_((...just void..))_

_the boy silenced for sometime _

'_. . .I don't understand...!'_

_the echo let out another sighlike snicker _

_((How old are you now..?))_

'_Six winters..!'_

_((...You're alone !)) it wasn't a question_

'_No ! ...I'm with you..'_

_the boy gave a little smile. It lit his bloody and bruised face, nonetheless. A warm sincerety shone in his prussian eyes. A sense of longing waved in the void's heart seeing that smile. Likely the one waiting and the one abandoned were longing for something similar...to not be alone_

_...would it be better if only they were to yearn for each other...?_

_((...really? Thankyou, then...)) the echo breathed_

_the boy hummed a soft negative while shaking his head a little_

'_...thank YOU...!' _

_he said heartfully, his hand emphasized the words by putting it on his heart and streched it as if to touch the figure's heart. There was a wave of warmness permeated in the damp air for a while, then he gave a liquid smile, took the warm wave as the figure's answer to his given-heart..._

_the boy's eyes shifted from the figure's face to the left hand dropped on the figure's bended left leg that laid at its side and supposedly to its front, the remains of the left arm touched the lower part of the vertical-bar of the blade-cross unmoving_

'_Does that hurt...?' the boy asked silently out of curiosity, tinged with empathy. Sadly the figure never feel.._

_((...this?))_

_the figure lifted the skeleton arm, its bones heard rattling to each other...fisted the finger-bones a few times_

_((I never feel...))_

_the skeleton arm swept the cloth veiling almost its entire form aside, revealing its bended left leg that weren't there anymore... instead of limb, there was just misty blackness formed as the lower leg, broke to wafting tendrils of black-smokelike _

_. . . . 'Why didn't you search for your loved-one...? ..instead of waiting here in vain...' –it's not like you were waiting for me...!_

_the boy asked quietly while his eyes still glued to the skeleton-arm that receded to its former position on the lower blade-cross, his forehead tingled from where the bones brushed ...he wanted more !_

_...((I still bring deaths...))_

'_You didn't want to kill your loved-one so you're killing yourself...'_

_it wasn't a question...nor accusation ...he just wanted.._

_((Deaths don't die, Little Human...)) the echo flowed with remnants of pride of a once-almighty entity had_

'_...You don't live either, but you're fading...!'_

_the echo silenced..._

'_It's not like you're dying... like me most of the times..' _

_he traced the bruise on his right temple down to his cheek, his little finger strayed to linger on his lips... his eyes traced the red mark that tainted the figure's face from the outer edge of its visible eye to the center and flowed down to the figure's chin, and stared at the figure's slightly opened lips. Then he smiled a shy little smile to himself.._

_the echo still silenced . . . ._

'_How do you make a Death living..?'_

_the prussian eyes glinted with contemplation, the echo chuckled sceptically_

_((...by killing it..))_

_the boy blinked once slowly, took a long pause. Then.._

'_How do you kill Death..?'_

_((Make it live...!))_

_there was a tone of finality in the echo, as if it was glad that the boy would surrender his train of thoughts the figure knew he's contemplating. But the figure of blackness had underestimated the boy's heart... even after knowing him for this long..._

_he licked his lips once, then smiled his little smile.. and leaned forward_

_ 'Live, then...! I give you my life. .' _

_the boy's voice echoed through the flowing of Time, reverberated in every vein of his being...through every breath he took...every beat of his heart..._

_ ...find your loved-one..._

_ . . . just be happy for my part too . . . . . . _

He opened his eyes wide... noting that he's staring at a bleak-white canopy of a bleak-white bed in a bleak-white room decorated in all-white except for the black wooden double-doors at the far wall.

Blinked a few more times just to make sure he didn't dream, then he perceived a presence at his side. Come to think of it, there was a warm hand draped on his chest, whisps of silky hair tickled his face too. He turned his head a bit to face the owner, to his relief -or was it disappoinment..?- he found _Deia_'s face close to his, a peaceful smile on _her_ face.

He stared long at the face, as if still in a dream that was too real to be one. He could even felt the pains from 'his' bloody and bruised small body lingering under layers of skin and flesh and veins and Time. Or were they just an after-effect of a dream that he wished to be more real than his reality...?

He blinked again, wishing that he could move his hand to touch the peaceful face near his, but the bedcovers cocooned him fast, and he didn't want to disturb the other's slumber.

A soft sigh. The face near his blossomed its smile contentedly.

"...Thank gods and goddesses you're awake..!"

He blinked. _She_ didn't move..

"You slept for two days, I've been worried sick when you didn't respond to me...!! You looked like a dead clay-doll..!"

He searched the other's face... _what ever that means..._

"...Do me a favor, ..when you need or want something, or feeling anything.. please let me know ?"

..pause

He kept staring..

"I care about you..!" _She_ said in a sigh "I need to know !"

"...Please ?"

Then _she_ opened one eye at him, other than that _she_ didn't move anything else, seemingly much too comfortable with their arrangement.

_. . . . one violet eye in darkness. . _

He just kept staring, further to his too-real dream. The violet eye near his face was of the right one, the one in his dream was the left one... he stared further..

_She_ humph-ed softly, "It's still midnight, seeing that you're not really awake, might as well take somemore rest..!"

"How-ward wanted to try something to help you recover faster once you wake, he'll definitely come first thing in the morning !"

_She_ rose _her_ head and kissed his forehead gently, "You don't want anything..?"

The prussian eyes drooped slowly for answer, then closed for somemore sleep. _She_ sighed and followed too, embracing the brown haired head in _her_ hand that draped over his chest.

He slept untroubled with anymore dream for the rest of the night... in the back of his mind, one violet eye glowed in darkness found him...

. . . . . but he's still searching . .

The Castile's living quarters were mostly of hexagonal-based chambers, the structure made some recesses in intervals between the chambers. You'd think that they would make a very ideal place for an intruder to hide.. well, chamberlain-Charms used them to illuminate the Castile's surrounding, made some protection-charms in every of them that were made of layers of shimering mother-of-pearl lights to add some scenery to the all-white castle. They also worked as disguised-sensors.

Colors are expensive in Archantra, mostly because things in the land were resistant to dyes, even blood will fuse in with the clothes after some times, it's because of the funguses had mixed in with every elements of the land's materials, organics and non-organics . Although outlanders' blood were more durable than the inlanders', that's why some illicit merchants or craftsmen used to dye their goods with outlanders' blood. That's where the hunters and mercenaries came in, to hunt the outlanders for their blood, they'd mix the blood with some other substances to make other colors than blood-red or brownish-red or maroon-black. Some creatures' blood had distinguish type of color-mixtures, i.e. such type of chimera's blood would make a fine yellow color-mixture, while a typical animal's blood would make a green shade after the dyed cloth burnt to obtain the colors.

Howard stared at the piece of cloth laid on his lab's table, a chandelier held a silvery-light-purple fire2 (like Deia's hair-color) that burned lazily stood besides the cloth, other lab tools scattered behind. The garment was of white color, ofcourse, but it had a sheen of crystal-clear blue that reflected the lights and made auras of colors around it. The sheen of blue itself was merged with the garment's material, but at the same time it looked like it was of some other element covering the garment. He'd never seen anything like it, and he bet other inlanders too. He just hoped that any other beside him would never find out about it.

If Deia knew, she'd be more worried about the situation. He sighed... and took off to consult with Odin and his Lord; especially Odin.

"...What's this ?" The Lord looked at the piece of cloth laid on the big hexagonal table of his study.

Odin took it and felt it with his fingers, then sniffed it. His brows furrowed in alarm.

"Blood..!" he looked sidelong at the Old-Charms, "...the boy's ?!" Howard gave a little nod.

"...The mercenaries who brought him here...!"

"I don't think they'd found out about it, otherwise they wouldn't have brought him here !" Howard cut the Lord's words, "Well... at least I think they didn't know it back then, but there's a possibility that someone would have figured it out by now. There would had been quite a lot blood traces he left from his struggles with them !"

"I've never seen this kind of color-mixture...!" the Lord breathed silently, amused mixed with apprehension. He'd been trying to stop the whole hunt-for-dyes issue for years, many had suffered of losing than gain. Colors were NOT meant in this land.

"I bet others too..!!" Howard shrugged, but his eyes trained sidelong to Odin's face, who stared at the cloth unwaveringly. "We already suspected that the boy was related to Fairs...!"

"Water-tree..." the general murmured. The other men silenced, letting him to continue...

"...not of any Fairs I knew, though.." sounded distant, his eyes clouded a little. The Lord and Howard exchanged a flash gaze.

"Well, since it was confirmed... Then, I'd like to borrow your..." Howard's bright pearly-white eyes behind the black-spectacles flicked to the talisman-sword secured to his belt "...sword."

"I'd like to try something to help him...!"

"You have any idea with you ?" the Lord asked

He shrugged again "Like the Solo-beast said, let the boy try something on his own...we just have to provide him the necessities..!"

"...true..," the next said firmer by the general "I've never drawn my sword around him."

"It's settled, then..!" Howard nodded.

...That was the day before the boy awoke...

To the adults' disappointment -or was it relief...?- Deia had 'kidnapped' him for two more days to _her_ secret sanctuary, saying that _she_ didn't want his rest to be disturbed as of yet. Lyea said that _she_ was just being jealous that _she_ could do nothing to help mend him, behind _her_ back ofcourse..-not that _her_ back was physically present when she said it, though.

_. . . . . . drip . . . .drip. ._

_the dripping noise sounded distant in the darkness that deadened his senses, but his heart somehow knew that the source was close, HE reached out his heart to it, finding a warmness seeped through his hollow heart-space ...liquid warmness that flowed in pulses, the darkness dyed red...a little smile...blood in his parted lips...the weight that was unfamiliar in his hands.._

_...soft...soft silky strands HE'd yearned to touch for long...his memory played back the prussian color that dimmed in the darkness...the body craddled to his chest grown cold..._

_. . . . open your eyes . . . . !_

_HE cried . . . . ._

_. . .OPEN YOUR EYES . . . !!!_

A gasp louder than the world's resonated the whole body and awareness came fort with a thundering currents. _He_ opened _his_ wary eyes with a great sense of desperation. _He_ was alone in the white bed, _had to find someone...!_

A mirror reflected back a little girl with silvery-light-purple hair, staring at a deep-blue rectrix rested carefully in her hands, secured with a necklace of small black chains around her neck. A whisp of brunet strands caught _his_ side vision behind _him_ when _he_ ran through the black wooden double-doors to find that someone...

_...Hurry...there's no time left...!!_

_. . . hurry . . .!!! _

The all-white corridors felt recognizable in the back of _his_ mind, but the darkness slowly swallowing the space was more familiar in _hi_s wake. _He_ fastened _his_ running steps...the desperation of losing something important was almost unbearable now...

. . . . . _his_ hands grew cold, _his_ feet grew heavier as if something congealing tried to hold _him_ back...

. . . _his_ hands grew colder...No...the body craddled in _his_ hands grew colder... _he_ looked down in the darkness and finding a familiar someone dripping with blood in _his_ hands... close to _his_ chest... close to _his_ beating heart...

_He_ cried _his_ blackness red. . . . .

Deia woke instantly with a gasp. _Her_ head felt light and cold. _Her_ sanctuary was empty aside for the all-black furnitures... There was a mirror on the wall in _her_ dream..._She_ never had a mirror in _her_ chamber, _she_ HATED mirrors...mirrors reflected _her_ lies back without covers..!!

_She_ climbed down the bed distractedly, _her_ feet landed on the soft black-furred rug weigthlessly as if walking in air. The small black round-chamber felt wrong, somehow... _A dream in a dream..., that's new...!_

_. . . Something's missing...! Her_ mind whispered to _her_ conscious-self

_She_ gasped to wakefulness in an instant...

"...Prussian !!"

Black lightnings flashed forming a black-currents ball that swallowed _her_ presence...

"...Hiii...! What are you doing in there, Prussian..?" Lyea whispered carefully as to not surprise or frightened the small boy.

The said boy stilled and stiffened, he was crouching with his back at her in the small corner of one of the recesses between chambers, the illumination-layer of it was dominated by purple-blue lights. Usually. even the Charms that set the layers couldn't enter them unnoticed by other Charms, it was because of the Air that acted as amplifier. Lyea stared at the boy with no small amount of appreciation. _The comet-child Deia lost _her_ companion-beast in the Castile was something new..!_

But that amused thought swiftly left her mind when she realized that the boy was desperately trying to stifle his coughing, to no avail, it only made it looked worse that he seemed to be miserably suffocated.

"Prussian...?"

Hearing the understanding in her voice he just yielded to his pain and coughed openly, though still tried to keep them quiet. A wet gurgle and vomiting noise heard soon after. Lyea kneeled down in front of the illumination-layer wanting to reach the small boy dying inside the small space of the corner.

"...It's the Air, isn't it..?!" she asked quietly, though it's not really a question. His darkened eyes stared back at her with soulful air.

"_...Crimson died of illness, and Black died taking the burnt of a Spell's wrath for me, and I had to set Viridian free because she couldn't survive the Air in here and..." _Deia's prattling argument when she'd asked to take care of the boy from the mercenaries came to her mind, he must have remembered too... _set Viridian free because she COULDN'T survive the Air... _

"I won't tell Deia for now..." Lyea tried a smile "...but the others might have already aware of this. If you don't improve, she'll soon realize it too..!"

". . . . But the outlanders' blood was more durable..." she frowned and murmured to herself, noticing the red liquid stain dyeing the too-long sleeve that was covering the boy's mouth "..How did you manage to hide...?"

A small hand covered in the too-long sleeve passed through the illumination-layer, it was disturbed by repressed tremors, Lyea noted. The hand shaked off once, and tinkling sounds heard melodiously when some small crystalines of blood-red color ricocheted on the floor in front of her, leaving the white sleeve white as before.

She blinked and lifted a large fragment of the crystaline, the translucent thing felt cool between her careful fingers. Her heart went to him when she stared back to his weary dying body. A sweet regretful smile blossomed on her face...

"...Oh, dear sorrowful-child..." she murmured.

"Lyeaa..., Sis..!!" Deia's panic voice bounced off the long corridor, it even heard before the sounds of _her_ running steps reached Lyea's ears.

Lyea stopped in her motion opening the door of her study. "...Prussian !!"

"..Have to find...!! Emergency...!" Deia's yells between gasps of panic "...Now!!"

_She_ stumbled to stop in front of _her_ staring sister, who in turn was thinking that that was fast for _her_ to find out, already... Trying to keep her face unaffected.

"...He's dying...!!" her little _sister_ said with full scale anxiety.

_Yep, ...that was fast...!_

"...In my arms...!! He's DEAD !!"

"What...?"

"He died in my arms..!! HE WON'T OPEN HIS EYES...!!!" Deia started to yell again after _she_'d gotten _her_ breath again.

"Deia..." Lyea called softly in alarm.

"HE'LL DIE IN MY ARMS...!! BUT WHEN I WOKE UP HE'S NOT THERE...!!"

Past-tense, future-tense, back to past-tense... _her_ words didn't make sense. "Dearest, ...honey. Calm down..!" Lyea cupped her _sister_'s face searching _her_ panic eyes. "It's your nightmare, isn't it...?! Shhh...calm down, now..." She embraced the smaller body, felt it trembled against her, felt the hollowness began to coil in the Air around them.

"He's okay, Dearest..!"

"NO!! He won't..!" Deia sobbed "He was older then he is now...! HE DIED..!! HE WON'T OPEN HIS EYES EVEN WHEN I CRIED..!!" Black-currents started to charge around them, Lyea looked at them sidelong, keeping herself calm.

"...AND I CRIED..!! ...I cried...!" the currents died down a little "...I cried, but you won't hear..."

"...how could you...?" Deia's yells quieted down into sobs, _her_ voice sounded distant now "...how could you...!"

Lyea soothed _her_ back tenderly, noting the currents had died down completely, and her shoulder beginning to soak by her _sister_'s tears. She's only twelve, and she had beginning to hate the world for what it had done to her Dearest...! (3)

She rocked the sobbing child gently and hummed a soothing song, wishing all the charms in the whole existence to bless _her_...and _her_ dearest-one...

She hummed...

_..Dear sorrowful-child,_

_bless you for your smile.._

_Misery won't hurt you much,_

_Grief won't leave you bare,_

_bless you for your pains..._

_bless you for your joy..._

_...Sorrowful-child.._

HE cried _his_ blackness red...

Howard looked sidelong at the general that walked at his side, he had shut down after Howard explained to him that he'd like to advance with the plan they'd agreed a couple days before. To tell the truth, Howard himself didn't feel eased with it... at the back of his charms-mind he could feel something horrible alarming his conscious-self.

Well... call it a hunch, then some-stupid-body would related it with his summon-camel out of good humored- day turned to dooms-day...!

Howard frowned at his own train of thought...

They stopped at the front of Deia's chamber, asking permission to enter. When there's no answer from the chamber inhabitant, Howard asked to the chamber-spell with his Harmony, the double-doors opened themselves as always, since Deia had allowed him to enter freely if she's not present since the day the boy brought in there.

The chamber was empty save the furnitures... Howard frowned deeper, his hunch (...Ah! there's the word...!) said that the boy was in there. Odin entered without so much of a word, he swept his eyes around once briskly, then headed to the bed, and crouched. Two large prussian orbs blinked at his face from under the bed.

"You should look for other hiding place...!" he said levelly –_well, aside for the corner table.._, the answer was another blink.

"Allo' , Boy..!" Howard crouched too with a big grin plastered on his face, "Could you come out, please, we'd like to try to..." pause.. cough "...show you something..!" He plastered the grin back to its place.

The boy sniffed once, smelling that the adult humans were up to something... he didn't feel right, but not wrong, either... must be his paranoia eating his mind !

The large prussian eyes wavered with a flash of suspiciousness for a brief moment, he didn't budge.

"...Something's bothering you..?" Howard asked with concern, since the boy had stopped showing too much suspicions towards them lately.

A flicker of denial flashed in the prussian eyes, now that they think of it, they were wide with alertness, may be even fear and confusion.

Howard frowned, "...Kid, are you hurting somewhere...?" His mind whispered the possibility that the boy already knew that he's dying. –_well, isn't it the big secret around here...?!_ His mind replied sarcastically..

The said boy thinned his lips, and ever so slowly crawled out from under the bed facing Odin, but he kept his head bowed refusing to meet their eyes. Odin looked closely on him, his heart constricted with every pulse. He straightened and arranged his posture to sit on his bended legs.

"..._'Şhââri...!_" he said quietly with a slow deep bow, the ancient word was literally means 'good-soul'.

The boy snapped his head at hearing the word, wide prussians now wavered with surprise.

... "I was... you could say, raised by a few Fairs'...for sometime...!" the general smiled a little, though his eyes distanced for a moment.

The boy's eyes clouded a little, then he arranged himself mimicking Odin's pose, and bowed slowly.

Odin took his talisman-sword from his belt without another word, and laid it horizontally on the floor in front of them. He then brushed the air above it with both hands, starting from the middle to the ends, calling it to wakefulness.

The Air hummed a soft-inhuman sigh that melodiously heard only by inhuman ears. The boy widened his eyes, staring at the white-velvety smoke that liquidly emerged from the sword, leaving the scabbard empty. The white smoke formed a sword-like shape with Odin's opened palms above both of its ends, keeping it floating in the air. The smoke swirled lazily in the middle of the sword-shape and changed to a maiden's face with her eyes closed that slowly formed her head with watery long hair.

"... I think you know what it is... It's a water-tree's..-"

The boy's breath caught, and he let out a choked keening sound. Odin didn't continue his words, Howard only watched closely the boy's body language with a little alertness nagging his conscious-self.

"...If you could use this to help yourself...!" Odin frowned, mostly to himself, the words didn't sound right...

The boy shook his head repeatedly in trepidation, and crawled backward a few paces until his back hit the window glass.

Odin blew his sigh explosively, "Look...! I know you would now think that I'm barbaric, from Fairs' point of view! But if you could really make a good use of it -...!" He grabbed the smoke-hilt which instantly materialized solidly at his touch, and swung the blade point at the boy's face.

May be it was a little too much.. but he really didn't like to wake Her in that form in front of others, She was once his other-hemisphere of his whole world.

At that uncanny timing, a very upset Deia with tear stains still wetted _her_ cheeks banged the doors open in _her_ frantic search of _her_ missing Prussian. The beast's name died in _her_ lips before _she_ had the chance to call it outright, _her_ vision narrowed only at the walled frightened boy and the tip of a sword in front of his face. Lyea was calling _her_ name close behind.

_Her_ vision dyed red... and _she_ let out a dreadful scream, then let loose everything _she_ had... _her_ life, _her_ heart, _her_ soul... HIM...!

Lyea let out a surprised yelp as the world in front of her swallowed in the exploding blackness, Howard uttered a curse as his mind mocked his conscious-self with the ignored alertness..

...and everything turned black

(1) an ancient greeting, made it up..! 99" Though..., if you want to ask where Saru derived it from, Oni-tan would comment something about _baka-saru_ and _twisted-concept-minded_ and _asbun-saka_...!!

right, Oni-tan...?? ; hehee...

...What ?? You don't expect Saru to put sumthin' ANCIENT like sampürasün/rampés in the fic, right, Oni-tan...?

or nu.. nu... nyuuu..? ...nyüwünséwü..???!

But if you still want to ask Saru, then feel free to ask... " " (Saru won't be responsible for the answer, in any case you like it or not...)

(2) the fire in Archantra has its energy from the Air, so it doesn't need to actually burn anything; in exchange, it has different flame-color that ranged from deep-maroon to whitish-hues.

(3) ...will be explained later 99;;

ohh, made the pic before this chapter... it's NOT really Duo saru sketched, in case anyone interested just go to saru' gallery saru-kun. , the pic title is 'the void'


	9. vagary

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku october 1, 2006 **

** 9 Vagary**

'_...Amaranthea... What would you do..'_

'_...if you had one person that meant half the world to you... and you had to abolish your other hemisphere for the life of that person...'_

'_...What would you do...?' _

_((... if you let one die because you couldn't decide, would that mean that you have only half of your world left..?))_

'_...'_

_She smiled..._

_((...You know which half you had to choose... You wouldn't loose a half for the sake of the other half..))_

_(( You would only be combining your one hemisphere with the other, ...then you will have a whole sphere of your world..., isn't that so...?))_

_She smiled..._

'_. . . . . . I'm sorry. . . .'_

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . she smiled_

Odin opened his eyes in dread, his heart beating painfully in his throat, choking his every breath. He could feel a velvety hand covering his hand that was holding the sword hilt, like a brush of cool breeze, and another one at his shoulder, a body of white-velvety smoke enshrouded his figure. He could see tendrils of white-smoke long hair that were transparent and rippled as if in water from behind him. His heart could hear Her whispered calming words slowly.

Gradually, as his mind calmed down little by little from the shock, he could feel a trembling small body enfolded in his crouching one. His senses were robbed by the darkness, but his heart's ear could hear the small keening sounds from the balled figure in his embrace. His mind knew instinctly who it was, he closed his eyes again and sent Her heart that surrounded them to the frightened one.

_It's alright... everything's alright_. His mind reiterated the whispered words in his heart to the small figure. The sounds stopped, but the quivering didn't lessen. Then he felt a small hand clutched his other hand painfully, despite its trembling. He smiled a little at that...

After what felt like hours, the darkness thinned gradually. Odin saw a sliver of silvery wave with specks of red light rippled in it near his spot. That must be Howard's barrier. Anyway, he didn't worry about the old-Charms. What plagued his mind right now was Lyea's wellbeing. He only saw a flash of her before Deia exploded.

'...Please, Orebell... Please be with her when it happened... please..please...!' and his mind begged halfconsciously calling the name he hadn't called for a long time.

A wave of comfort came from the old-Charms when the darkness had thinned enough for Odin to see his barrier-sphere completely, Howard gave a reassuring smirk from inside the semi-transparent wave. Odin replied with a nod.

Finally the darkness ebbed to its center of conflagration, coiling around Deia's stilled figure that was standing by the now vanished double doors, along with about one-tenth of the Castille and its fixtures of the current levels.

The general and the old-Charms widened their eyes at the sight that greeted them. Various scraps of things that had given protection-charms strong enough to survive the exploding darkness were floating at their supposed positions, while the surrounding had vanished to nothing, replaced by black space, making the sight resembled a warped version of outer space. While the floor parts that were occupied by them left partly broken under their feet. They could see barrier-spheres of the other Charms in the near vicinities that were also caught in the explotion. With a heavy heart, they realized that they will be counting casualties who were unfortunate enough to not having protection-charms or talismans or Spells.

To their biggest relief, a fade-blue shimmers of a Veiled-Spell(1) could be seen veiling a familiar Lord and the stun-faced Lady Lyea in his embrace. Before they could blow a sigh of relief, though, Lyea cried and jolted with a hand reaching out to her _sister_'s form.

"..Dearest...!!"

And as the coiling darkness died down exposing _her_, Deia's body collapsed lifelessly like a marionette being cut off of its strings.

Howard acted in a flash and caught her before she fall down the deep black space created under her feet.

As they could move again, one of the Charms teleported in front of them to where the corridor was supposed to be, and asked in a frantic, "What happened ?!" followed by several other Charms.

Howard blinked once, and with lifted brows he slowly put his forefinger on his lips. They all frozen for a moment, and suddenly the place broke to a beelike emergency actions.

The old-Charms turned his head, noting that the boy had collapsed too by exhaustion in Odin's hands, albeit his eyes were still opened a slit and burned at him... or rather, at the inanimated figure in his arms. Howard looked at Odin's eyes, and exchanged an unspoken confirmation, then to the silent Lord.

Odin brought the wet little towel and wiped the boy's face gently, then moved on to his hands starting from the fingers upward, when he got to the shoulders, though, he stopped and looked long at the boy's impassive face. His prussian eyes were clouded, that made them seemed a darker color almost black. Those eyes were distant, focused on something unseen passed the adult's back. Odin suppressed a sigh and looked down from his pale face to his chest, he thinned his lips. A large blackish purple bruise was there, centered from under the craft-plate with shoots of black arteries painted the skin outward. It must hurt like hell if an internal injury managed to be that severe as to be seen from the outside like that, he respected the boy for enduring such a pain and managed to hide it for long; but hell, he'd never seen such an injury like it in his life, was it internal wound, or an infected one, or a stage of some illness; it looked almost like it was some living organism digging its apendages to make the boy's body its host. The Solo-beast had said that the craft-plate is eating him alive, is that it? Well with this kind of damage off course the boy would know by himself that he's dying...!

He furrowed his bleak-white brows then resumed his work wiping the boy's chest as gently as he could, his eyes darted every now and then to his face, as if expecting a painfilled expression on it. But the face didn't even flinch a fraction, it looked dead like a statue.

The door to the room opened suddenly, and in came the old-Charms with a serious face for once. The boy lifted his head to him in alert, his eyes focused sharply, wide with expectance and worry. Howard caught for a brief second when he noticed the nightmarish bruise on the boy's chest, then proceeded to where Odin kneeled in front of the boy who was sitting on the bed.

"Casualty ?" Odin asked without looking at him.

"They're still counting !"

A small cough erupted from the boy's chest, but choked down in his throat. Howard flinched a little, that must hurt a thunder lot. He seemed to swallow in difficulty for a moment, but his eyes were still wide open at Howard. It was the most open stare from the boy he'd received since the first time.

"_She_'s asleep.." Howard gave him a smile of assurance, his tight face slackened "Lady Dee didn't let loose Harmony back then, so _she_ wouldn't be getting exhausted to death like before..!", but the wrinkles between his brows didn't disappear.

Then, what did _she_ let loose?! The question hung heavily in the air after he finished the sentence. He knew the boy probably wouldn't care even for a bit, but this Land does!

"Lady Lyea said that _she_ had a nighmare before that, and _she_ must've blown _her_ anxiety out..!!" Howard shrugged.

"Well, so much for the plan... went well like hell..!" he huffed and said it to noone in particular. He had made arrangements for the boy to a place in the outerland where he had someones to asked for help, those someones might not know much in the task of mending the dying boy –and his craft-plate issue-, but at least they would be able to try something without the Air worsen the boy's state. They had planned to tell Deia that based on the day's examinition by Her, that the boy must be relocated to the arranged place; off course Deia will have a fit, but _she_'ll listen to Odin's Fairs... _she_ always listens to _them_ !

"I'm sorry, I should've realized it sooner... so you don't have to endure that bad !" Howard stared at the uncanny bruise on his chest, wondering how such a small fragile looking boy could survive something like that, he was sure humans couldn't.

To their surprise, the boy shook his head as answer. He never did any of that kind of body language before so they had to dechiper his beastly-gestures.

"You know, right...?" –that they will let him be the scapegoat for the incident, since they wouldn't want anyone beside them to know who had caused it. They will let people think that it was his power that exploded when they tried to mend him _again_, and when Deia say that it was _her_ fault people will think that _she_'s defending the beast-boy because _she_ had said it that _she_ will take full responsibility for everything the beast would cause.

His eyes dimmed again and he casted his eyes down, then gave a little nod.

"...You don't mind...?" Howard asked apologetically. The boy shook his head again slowly.

"...So much for parting with your pack for the sake to be with Lady Dee, hu ?" Howard snickered dejectedly. The boy's head snapped at him at that, his eyes stared waveringly and distanced. He was frozen like that for a long time, when Odin's hand cupped his face he closed his eyes, feeling his thumb stroked his cheek slowly. The wind blew cooly from the tower's windows, it was the one place where Odin would go if he wanted the solitude, the one place where he allowed himself to be a human and not a hardened general, where he could allow himself to mourn for Her. He's always a bit melancholy in there, that's why usually he wouldn't allow anyone else to enter the tower-room.

"I'll stay with you for the most part... She wants that !" he flicked his head to the talisman-sword hanging from his belt. But he didn't voiced the thought that flashed in his mind, whether the boy could go back to the Land afterwards, or not...

The boy's lips thinned and trembled, then he opened them as if to say something. But he froze and shut his mouth tight, then just nodded a little.

Howard left then after saying that he had to see to other things. But the boy knew he was being prepared to leave the Land in next to no time. His heart crumbled, he'd needed the reason to stay alive, to survive his own body. He thought he could make his Human to be that Reason, apparently that Reason couldn't survive his illness, he wouldn't want his Human to have to struggle with his death too... perhaps being faraway from his Human would give him a fracture of peace to surrender to his body.

He smiled. . . . .

Lyea knocked at the dark maroon round-door and entered when the said door opened itself. The chamber behind it was full with long dark maroon drapes that pooled on the floor, they were hung everywhere and strangely flowing as if blown by an ever-presence breeze; the light-crystals in the walls gave dim illuminations of red-lights, blackish red flower petals were scattered on the red tiles, some candles holding crimson flames floated in groups in the air.

"...Kyllea..?" she called softly, and sat on the backless sofa-bed in the middle of the room.

"Milady...!" a soft female voice greeted her from behind the drapes. "How's your Dearest ?"

"...Asleep.."

"Hm...that was close..., much too close, in fact !" –pause. "...They're going to make the boy the scapegoat, yes...?"

Lyea nodded halfheartedly.

"That might be for the best,...if not, he wouldn't take any persuation to leave the Land ! He'll die by the Air if not by his injury..! Soon !!"

"...but Dearest would be devastated when 'e finds out about this..!"

The voice took longer pause, as if contemplating. "Dearest would know how to settle things, in time...!"

. . . . Really.. ? NOT the Deia she knew... and she barely knew the _other_.. Duo...

Lyea sighed heavily. "HE's waking up, right...?"

The voice hummed affirmation. "Though I couldn't really say that... HE's always in there the whole time, HE just didn't bother to show it that HE's in the consciousness...!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . "...This Land will kill HIM..! Or the other way around !!"

A soft chuckle, "I have never lost Lady of the Land for generations... NOT in my protection, Milady ! NOT in this Land !!"

..._.Mother died because there's already the next Lady of the Land, her..!!_ Lyea frowned with apprehension.

". . . Since when do this Land's people became so vile, Kyllea ? Sacrificing children for OUR sakes ...?! We were supposed to be the faithful people guarding a sacred place !"

"You shouldn't burden yourself so much... My-half will take care of this mess, for now.."

"Kyle's back...?!" Lyea asked surprisedly, but brightened nonetheless. "Why hadn't you reported that to me ? So you managed to lessen the casualty, right..?!" –because she didn't want her Dearest to be a murderer, even without the intention of doing it, killing is killing. Then this Land will deffinitely kill HIM !!

"Hmmm... the unprotected people might have been ported through the vessels, I think you could find them lost in the Forest...!" -...and THAT was a people-eating Forest good for, swallowing teleported people from the Air and keep them in it untill they die. Well, see the bright side...! They just have to find them before the Forest eats them, right ?!

"...As for Dearest,.." the voice hummed again, "...I don't think I'd say that 'e'll be alright, 'e's the CHAOS as I recall, anyway !"

"Hmmm, I could predict Deia's actions, but I don't know about HIM...!" Lyea nodded, the latest incident proved it.

She frowned in deep thinking for long, then nodded to herself as she made the resolve. Lyea stood with renewed strength, "Thankyou for the helps, Ky'...!" She smiled at the chamber.

Behind her between the flowing drapes stood the maiden with wine-colored hair, she bowed slow and deeply at her departure.

((...at your service, Milady..)) the maiden smiled to noone in particular, her voice was echoed and breezelike.

Just then, she felt the familiar presence in the chamber.

((Kyle..., Milady asked about you !))

(( I know !))

(( ...'something ? ))

(( In the vessels back then, ... I realized something... ))

(( ...What ? )) she asked as her-half suddenly stopped deliberating.

(( . . . . . . The boy's craft-plate... it's the same with HIS power just now...!))

She frowned (( It has the same power...? ))

(( NO ! I said it IS the same..! His craft-plate might be the compact-form of the power ! ))

She widened her eyes at that, then narrowed them with dangerous gleams. "...If someone wanted HIM to be awakened intentionally, we'll just have to take care of the intruder, right ?"

Her-half didn't answer, ...didn't have to, they're one.

"...Done! Let's go...!" Odin secured the cloak hood on the boy's head, a long scarf covered half his lower face to block the gust of wind somewhat. Under the cloak he was dressed in a turtleneck shirt and short tunic, trousers for the ride and a pair of boots. Odin also wore simple common clotches so as to not attrack any unwanted attention. "Can you walk ?" The boy moved slowly, Odin didn't know whether he did it deliberately because he didn't want to leave or because his physical condition only allowed him that much movement. May be both. In his heart he felt like they're absconding too, but he couldn't help the situation any other way.

He scooped the boy from where he was bracing his body weight on the bedpost, his shaky legs wouldn't accommodate him much to walk by himself. He's in shock, Odin noted. Still, his featherlight weight amazed him somehow. "You're not earthbound..!" He said. –as most Fairs' also-

The boy nodded slightly. "Can you fly...?" He couldn't help himself from asking that. The boy only flicked his head as a shrug.

A summon-beast was waiting for them on the tower terrace, it was a hound akin to doberman, only with additional of a series of rock-like horns adorning its head and black flamy longfur on each of its four ankles. Some luminescent pattern-lines coloring its bodyparts distinctively. Howard was talking with the beast using his Harmony, stroking its muzzle in front of his chest.

"Your warsteed will be waiting for you on the outeredge !" he said without looking back at the general and the boy carried in his arm. They agreed they couldn't use teleportation to get them to the inneredge of the Forest, not when the Castille still buzzing like beehive on fire.

Odin looked at the summon-beast, off course it's Howard's, not many Charms capable of lending their summon-beasts for other's use in great distance, usually they were limited for the summoner's only or in close sepparation. He flicked his brow up, then looked sidelong at the old-Charms.

"What ?!" Howard seemed a bit deviant, "...The camel's mine !" he added hotly.

Odin only flicked his head mimicking the boy's shrug before. Behind his back, Howard humphed.

"Safe journey..!" Howard said when the beast took-off.

And that's how they departed from the place, without even saying a farewell to his Human. The boy closed his eyes and hid his face on Odin's chest. The older man held him tighter and covered his small body with his bigger cloak, as if to protect him from his land. Truth be told, he felt a strong protectiveness towards the boy, he didn't want him being consumed by this land's provisions of circumstances too, like Her.

"I was..." he said almost whisperingly, knowing the boy could hear him despite the gust of wind clawing at them, "...an adopted drifter."

The boy blinked inside the shrouding cloak.

"My mother was from a nomadic clan that wandered in the outerlands. They said father was a traveler of this land's native, but I never saw him, though, only stories and rumors. Well, with my traits I guess I couldn't have said otherwise...!" Odin snorted a smirk.

"Mother's clan was exterminated when I was very young, so I wandered aimlessly for several years on my own. 'Wasn't the only survivor, but they never treated me as one of their own since the beginning."

His lifestory wasn't a secret, so he didn't care if the Air brought his voice to any open ears right now.

"I did everything just to stay alive, many of those things I wasn't so proud of. I acquainted with some OWLs too, you know, ...'a few of them still."

He felt the boy's eyes burnt on him. "You already knew it, didn't you ?"

"I made a fatal mistake around teen age... right then Orebell saved me and took me to his family."

"Ah !! He didn't like it when I call him with that nickname, too bad you couldn't see his face if he heard me calling him that right now..!" Odin chuckled to himself. Under his cloak, the boy cocked his head. "Yup ! That's him..!!" His smirk grew larger. (...somewhere in the Castille, someone's sneezing)

They've entered the Forest for sometime. He felt a pair of eyes on them burning his every senses since they entered it, sometimes like being watched from the trees, sometimes from the grounds under, or by the winds, the lights casted through the Forest's canopy, the Air... What puzzled him was that the adult-human didn't seem to realize it, despite his carrying a Fairs-blade, or may be he acted like he's ignoring it ?

But it weighed on his being so much that he'd forgotten about his agonized chest for a long moment. His grip tightened on the man's shirt. 'Bear with it a little longer, almost there..!' Odin said in his mind, the boy sensed it despite his depressed state, nevertheless he felt a little relief that the man was not unaware of it.

Suddenly the weight of that stare multiplied tens times it felt like it's exploding his senses. The boy gasped and whimpered twice, after that he couldn't sound his agony anymore. He held the man's body like a lifeline, feeling his bigger body bended forward as if to try to shield his small one.

'It wants you... Whatever happens, don't let go of me !' He said, patted the beast to get faster. He never liked this Forest !

Deia woke to sitting position with a loud gasp. _Her_ breath was heavy and labored, _her_ wide eyes unfocused and distant. _She_ held one hand at _her_ chest as if in pain. Right at the side of the bed Lyea brought a cloth to wipe _her_ sweat on _her_ face.

"Dearest ? You alright...?"

Deia took some moment to slowly faced her, still distracted greatly. "Dearest ?" She called again.

_She_ opened _her_ mouth several times with no sound came out. After mechanically sipped a glass of watter presented to _her_ once, _she_ whispered brokenly the beast-boy's name.

Lyea's face drooped a little, but she smiled assuringly. "He's safe !"

"Odin's taking him to a place where he could mend much better...!"

Deia shook _her_ head in disbelief. _Something's wrong !!_ _Her_ instinct screamed at _her_. _She_ jolted out of the bed, or at least tried to. Lyea's grip held _her_ surprisingly strong, keeping _her_ on _her_ place.

"Don't..! He couldn't survive the Air !!" She said it bluntly.

Deia's eyes sharply focused on her's, _her_ chin trembled. "I know...!" _She_ said brokenly.

"I knew it from the beginning... But he's mine, whatever happens to him...!" _She_ said firmer and almost barked at the end.

Lyea's eyes widened in disapproval and disbelief at her _sister_'s confession. "Deia ...!!"

"HE'S MINE...!!" Deia pulled _her_ hand from Lyea's grip forcefully, and jumped out of the bed. A stretched out hand stopped _her_ on _her_ tracks, though. _She_ looked sharply at the owner, it was the wine-color haired maid. Her eyes admonished Deia's levelly with straight expression on her face.

Somehow Deia felt assaulted by her stare, _she_ took a couple wary steps backward.

"Lady Deia, you should listen to Milady's saying...!" the maid said softly, but _her_ ears were ringing with alarms from _her_ insides _her_ head felt floating.

"Step aside...!" Deia said in a trembled hiss. Noticing the maid didn't budge, _she_ barked out at her with scalding expression. "NOW !!"

Lyea jumped surprisedly at the expression she saw on her _sister_'s face. She'd never seen such a Wild's expression on _her_ face ever!

The maid lowered her hand, and Deia bolted immediately to the doorway.

"Deia..!!"

"Just try to stop me...-!!!" _She_ never finished _her_ sentence. The maid's hand grabbed _her_ left wrist, and at the same time _she_ felt the Air blasted closing in on _her_, keeping _her_ frozen as if a thousand blades touched _her_ being, daring _her_ to move.

"Kyllea...!"

_She_ heard Lyea's voice carying the disapproval and emergency behind _her_. The maid's hand released _her_'s, and _she_ dropped powerless to Lyea's grasp. Deia heard her called _her_ name a few times softly, her hand brushed _her_ face several times too. But _she_ was stunned to paralysis for quite sometime, _her_ eyes stared shockly at the maid's.

Feeling the shock turned to anger at the assault, Deia greeted _her_ teeth at last, still held the maid's stare, ignoring the dribble of blood on _her_ chin from _her_ bitten tongue. _She_ planted _her_ feet on the floor and set a stance ready to fight whatever comes _her_way.

"Kyllea...!" Lyea said peevishly at the maid. Underlined that Lyea NEVER said anything peevishly, before.

Kyllea sighed softly, then stepped aside.

"I'm going out !" Deia said passedly to her father.

The Lord saw his daughter barged pass him with a battle-ready air exuded from her, leaving a trail of solid Air behind her.

"What ?! Where ?"

"..WAIT..!!" he set his step to follow her.

"Take somebody along, Father, you'll find the missing people in the Forest...!" Lyea said passing him from behind. The Lord noted that she had called him 'father', Lyea only called him that in formal situations.

"Wha...?! Lyeaa...!"

"Milord...!" a maid with wine-colored hair passed him too.

The Lord stopped at his tracks. "You..!!" He exclaimed acussingly pointing his index finger.

"Milord...!" The Charms around him had stopped at what they're doing and were staring at him, waiting for orders.

The Lord sweatdropped. "...You addressed me with the title just to dictate me for fun...!" he exclaimed peevishly. The Charms blinked.

Howard walked pass him chuckling openly. Their Lord never ceased to amaze him.

"How-waaaard...!!" The Lord followed the old-Charms childishly fuming. The Charms blinked again and stared at one another, then set to follow the barging line.

The Land's Boundary was near, the boy felt his heart of heart almost leaped in joy for the oncoming freedom, but somehow half of his heart died with every track the summon-beast left behind; the worse-half or the better-half he didn't know, he couldn't judge his-self right now, didn't want to... it was easier to be someone's claim, so he wouldn't judge himself, that every judgement would be on his claimer's behalf. In the back of his consciousness, something whispered condemningly that he was using 'his Royal-Human' as that. _It's over..._ his mind answered; _he din't have the chance to use Human like that, so stop blaming him for everything...!_ And he's falling, again...

The weight of the assaulting stare on them had multiplied again to the level of unbearable now; scalding, consuming, devouring his consciousness...he felt his whole self was being teared apart by the overwhelming power the intent gaze carried. _Who was it ? What did it want ? It was just whoever-it-was' scrutiny and its power had already at the level of this enormous...? _

His breaths slowed down to hisses, somehow they'd become regular and controled. His eye pupils were dilated and became luminescent, his trembles hadn't lessen but his agony almost ignorable now. Something powerfully familiar upsurged from his insides, and he gloomly aware that it was his corrupt-self, despite the sense of immunity it spread to his conscious-self. He succumbed to the double-assaults from the outside and inside, and just prayed that noone will get hurt when he lost his-self completely. An echoing sound like waterdrop chimed in his mind, it came to his awareness from the talisman-sword at the man's waist. _Be at peace_, it said; and so he just let all worries go... he let his-self go..

...And the Boundary was just a breath away... and the sounds of a summon-beast galloped echoed like a thick layer of blanket.. and the sunlight from outside the Forest blinded his delirious eyes...

And as they felt the surge of bursting electrical spell-ward of the Land's -that were solidified from each Stalwart to one another- as they broke free from the Boundary... That's when he felt his-self slipped from him and freed from the weighing assaults... and he inhaled ... feeling his body full of strength and power, and light as flames exalting skyward.

The summon-beast was engulfed by silvery waves of light as the spell-ward was broken through making sounds like broken glass, and when it stepped down from its leap it was interchanged with Odin's warsteed, the summon-beast returned to Howard's space. The black warsteed ran the few kilometers in a short time, as the veiling white Stratus getting thinner and thinner and transparent allowing the sunlight to spill through.

Odin felt the boy in his arm had stopped trembling and calmed. But too calm... After the sheer relief he allowed himself to feel once they broke out from the Land's spell-ward without any incident, his instinct reawakened with alarming ferocity at the wrongness and felt his talisman-sword's Heart touched him.

He looked down to the boy and his words died down when he saw his eyes that were staring back at him with alien gaze, the prussian orbs had turned to white-fire circled by the prussian rings of corona-discharge. The expression on the face was one of an old and controled being. Odin swallowed once and was going to ask the boy whether he's alright, but the boy's hand lifted without a word and touched his midforehead just above his brows with the tip of his fingers.

And a white-flame tornado swirling from all around them, engulfing them in a blaze second. The warsteed neighed and stood on its hindlegs in surprise, Odin widened his eyes as he felt the airy fingers penetrated his forehead and brushed his soul. And in that fraction of time, the white-flames frozen, incarcerating the man and his warsteed in a clear icelike shell.

Another burst of white-flame blazed in the air near the frozens, it floated above the ground for a couple of seconds, and the blazing flames opened itself exposing the boy in it, being caressed by the soft and transparent 'hands' of whitefire. He opened his eyes slowly, his pupils were still in their alien state, his wispy hair winding skyward as if the breeze itself.

The white-flame thinned and the boy jumped to the ground as light as air. He looked up to the sky and lifted his right hand above his face, flexed the fingers a few times. Then looked around, he only gave a flicker of glance at the frozen human and his steed at his side. The boy gave a long unreadable stare at the Land before him, then offhandedly turned around, put all the ordeals in that Land behind his back, his past. He then moved forward to the free outerlands, with only a few unearthly steps he crossed a long distance like a gust of wind, and stopped on one of the sand dune in the open desert.

Blinked a few times as if sleepily, the boy closed his eyes indulging in the light windy air, and inhaled deeply, then opened his lips just slightly and a low whalelike reverberating sound echoed clearly in the air around him, pursed his lips whistlinglike to make the high-pitched ones. He enjoyed himself and the air singing all around him for sometime. And the sun welcomed him like a long lost son, and the wind danced and caressed his being, and the sands playfully brushed his feet and arms, and the distant untouchable sky watched over him like the open arms of a mother's, the pale-white crescent moon smiling at him from up there.

The scent of the sands brought up a memory that flashed in his mind's eye; he braced himself on his knees on the goldenbeast's head and reclined to Solo's metal-body's back, with arms slung on 'his' shoulders. The liquid-metal hands held them with loose grips. He rest his chin at the back of one metal shoulder, a small smile hidden behind it, his eyes drooped lazily, feeling the wisps of Solo's thin layers of metal-hair brushed his face gently.

_...If you possess that much power, shouldn't you be able to heal yourself ?_ Solo asked casually.

_. . . . I can't_; the boy answered 'his' question in his mind; _...my body is a traitor...!_

Then as if being warned by the memory, he opened his eyes and looked down, lifted his palm to his chest feeling the anomaly there. A glimmer of white aura glowed in his open palm, as suddenly a burst of black-charges exploded countering it. His eyes drooped a little, expressing his distaste at it, while the black charges still flashed in the air as if countering his disagree.

The boy looked back to the Land behind, and narrowed his eyes, otherwise his expression didn't change a bit from the beginning he's awakened. He floated back to the Land in a flash, there's something he should do with this troublesome-thing in his traitorous body...!! If he can't remove the thing, he'd just have to deal with the source that stimulated it to live!

A flash of violet eyes in his mind... his eyes hardened on the stony face as the resolve made.

tbc

(1) one of the many types of Spells, it actually the Spell's name or something to call it. Well, since Spells don't have names, the given words to call them counted as their names.

...hmmmm, quite some 180° turns, right...? hahahahahaa honestly didn't think much of the plot's progress, since it's already been waaaay out of the original idea... ;; (don't blame saru... saru is a BAKA...!)

if you notice the written date saru add on the top of each chapter you must notice that saru uploaded the new chapter after a long span of time (saru is lazy-bussy). just want to inform you who kindly read this fic, that saru' CPU went BOOM in the middle of typing chapter 10... " so, pliz be MORE patient with meh-d-monkey... ;


	10. breathe

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku october 16, 2006 **

** 10 Breathe**

'_... Colle', what's a mother like..?'_

_He was swinging his feet that were dangling from the high metal table lazily._

"_Hmmm... I don't know..! Like the skies, probably..."_

_The snake-skeleton's eyes glinted with green gems inside, they glowed in the darkness like a predator's eyes marking its prey._

"_Yepp..! A clear-sky with a round white-moon and specks of shimmering stars behind in warm daylight..!!"_

_The face in the skeleton's jaws smiled ruefully._

'_...You could see moon and stars in daylight...?'_

_He cocked his head in question._

_The older man snickered, and messed the boy's hair excitedly._

"_Of course you can !! If not, what's that waste of an enormous sheet of sky good for..?!"_

_. . . . . . '...That's not the answer to my question...!'_

_He furrowed his brows a little. The snake-skeleton shook with laughter..._

"_. . . . . Actually, ...you are the answer to your question ...!"_

_The snake-skeleton bowed its face down, whispered the words offhandedly, ...but knowing he could hear him nonetheless..._

_...As he expected, the boy didn't say another question . . . . whether he understood or just gave up his curiousity, sometimes the boy still acts impulsively he gloomly noted...in this forsaken place, being as the boy himself, it's a crime..!_

"_Say..., I'll take you to the garden after I finish here, what'd you say..?"_

'_...Really ?' then he smiled a boy's smile 'Arigatou..!!'_

"_Hmm..."arigato", hu?" _

_the skeleton hid the face completely, the murmured words were flat. He himself couldn't understand what the excitement of watching the rocked-plants and the remnants of them, but the boy seemed to see them as something mistifying._

"_...don't act so human like that, they're expendable...!!"_

_...just as the words of an extinct race's language the boy sometimes used unconsciously_

"...The Air is dispersing !" Lyea half-shouted through the gusting wind from the Forest in front of them. Kyllea staunchly stood behind her, holding her left hand out to ward off the hurtling wind from her Lady.

Not far from her side, Deia stood with uncanny resolve masked _her_ face. Something's definitely wrong, _she_ could feel it from the beginning _she_ came to, but this was pass definitely-wrong, the worse part of all this was that _she_ couldn't feel _her_ Prussian anymore after they've broken through the Land's Barrier...but that's not really what clawing _her_ awareness right now, _she_ could sense something approaching from _her_ deepest core, something dreadfully frightening yet brighter than the Stratus...something untouchable. Something forbidden... something _she_ had longed for all eternity...

"Howard...?!" The Lord's voice sounded small in the billowing Air, despite his Veilled protecting him around his figure.

"Nothing I could do... the Air is awakened rejecting something entering or exiting the Land..!!" ..using the Forest as the shielding slaughter-ground... "It only occur once that I knew of...!!" he deliberately cut his sentence there... –it only occured once when Deia was brought to this Land.

Kyllea stared at Deia sidelong. ((...Kylle.., finish yet ?))

A flash of childish curiousity entered her mind, Kyllea narrowed her eyes, he always played with the preys...! ((Hurry finish the intruder off before our Lady's Dearest got there, or you got demoted...!!))

A silent chuckle.. ((If that even possible...?))

((I'll demote you from existence..!!))

((Haa... _Sister_'s so scary...! I just thought that I would try to investigate the intruder's abbility first since it might be in our benefit later concerning the compact-power issue...!)) He answered lazily.

((What's the purpose of that ?! There's no need to investigate the soon-to-be-deceased subject !! You could do your out-of-curiousity research afterward, hurry and dispatch the intruder now !!))

((Hummm... they've gotten out of the Barrier..!))

"..What ?!" Kyllea hissed the word out unconsciously, and caught herself immediately. She spread her sense around in quick search, and reliefly noone realized her slip.

((...So ?! What are you doing now..?!)) She composed herself.

Another slight chuckles... ((..Protecting the Land from the intruder...!))

To noone's eyes at the very moment, on the outerside of the Land's Barrier, the boy was standing like a statue in his glory of whitefire bombarding the Barrier with enormous power trying to get through it with killing resolve, a flash of violet eye in his mind... his face was a mask of death devoid of all emotions...

---------------

. . . . . . _"Why do you like them so much..? They're just dead remains of plants..!"_

_the snake-skull cocked to one side then to the other. To his tediousness, they're all looked the same as just that.._

'_. . . . . they're dead...!'_

_the silent mind-words answered slowly as if in awe_

_the skeleton snaped at the boy's direction_

"_. . . . You like... deaths...?"_

_Colle' asked hesitantly, even knowing the boy's reason of existence, it was sometime downhearted him... the boy was such a beautiful creature to his -snake skeleton's gem- eyes.._

_the small head nodded slowly once,_

'_...dakara... the deads won't die...'_

_a long pause filled with only silence and damp humid air and darkness.._

"_Hng...right !" _

_the lips in the snake-skull lifted at one edge in a sinister smile_

"_I rather like collecting living speciments, though...!"_

_-...as what you are...! _

---------------

"...Out of my way..!!"

Deia said flatly to the boilling Air, there was no time for being concern of it, _her_ Prussian was being erased from _her_ present, and _she_ wanted him back, now..!!

Lyea stared at _her_ rigid posture after hearing _her_ words, as also the people who came along with them behind. All eyes noted that there was no sign of the black-aura exuding from _her_, to the Lord's (and co.s) relieves. As there was nothing happened, either...

"OFF...!!" Deia barked out.

Lyea blinked, it was the expression she knew of her Dearest in anger, not the scalding Wild's-expression like back then in the chamber.

Kyllea stared at _her_ sidelong with composed scrutiny.

A few moments passed with only the wind's billowing sound filling the present like a solid creature with one will to reject any living-thing to enter the Forest, then suddenly an invisible power sliced through the solid mad Air in front of Deia, straight to the Forest, leaving a trail of calm path for _her_. It was as if you cut a straight sum of a pudding with a knife leaving an empty gap between... only, this mad-billowing Air was NOT a pudding...!

While the others gaped, Kyllea stared at Deia's back walking composedly on the path to the Forest. She narrowed her eyes...

---------------

Kylle watched the intruder's form in swirling whitefire with no small amount of appreaciation. He had to admit that it was something you'd want to set your eyes upon even if it was staking your life in exchange. But noone mortal in this world could penetrate his Barrier from the outside, that is unless he let them intentionally. Chuckling, he continued his surveillance wondering how long would the intruder's going to last.

A flash of warning came from his-half's awareness, and he noticed a slight difference in the Air almost spontaneously. On the outerside, the boy sensed a presence from inside the Land, when suddenly a thunderous beat from within the craft-plate burst out exploding black-currents from his chest. He widenned his eyes as his body collapsed forward as if bowing to the Land, while his lower body's posture remained the same. He fisted his hands on either side of his body.

_...Noone...NOTHING...! ..in this world worthy of lowering his head to...!!!_

His chin trembled in rage, staring at the ground and his feet that weren't touching it... feeling his core being sucked of essence by the parasite deposited in his chest... feeling the presence who stimulated the parasite's actions trying to get towards his being... using his stollen essence nevertheless !!

A face burned in his surface-memory relayed behind his whiteflame-irises... a human's face with long silvery-purple hair and purple eyes smiling at him... His hands fisted so tightly that his pointed nails broke his palms skin, the blood dripped from between his fingers was shimmering with raw power, incinerated the ground's soil spontaneously that immediately scattered by the whirling wind and whitefire around him...

_. . . . OMAE o. . . korosu . . !! _

Kylle noticed the change in his subject of surveillance's disposition, while his awareness told him that someone with the opposite power was approaching from the innerside of the Forest. Defending from two-ways attacks was not to his liking...

((...Damn..!))

...if only he's allowed to let them to obliterate each other...-then he'd watch, of course...

In the Underspace of the Forest Kylle smirked ruefully... He rather liked the idea..! Watching the two birds killing each other, and he didn't even have to throw a stone. A deep chuckle erupted from his inside, growing to full out laughter that reverberated the whole Forest..

On the edge, Deia felt the Forest as if it was trembling with excitements, like an individual living creature...the pulses rippling through it was almost like a laughter. She stopped frozen on _her_ tracks as the Air sliced _her_ left cheek bleeding. Widened _her_ eyes in realization for the first time... _This Forest is alive..!!_

Still on the verge of his joyfull laughter, Kylle said with a fervor... ((...Come now! Come, Milady's Pet...!! Your beast-pet is impatiently waiting to kill you !!)) and continued with another meryfull laughter.

Damn, if he knew it would be this easy from the beginning, he wouldn't even have to induce those foolish villagers' mind to kill the small beast of intruder...!

He tsked... and smirked (( The things you'd do for your Motherland...!!))

...- _isn't that right, ... Mother...?_ Looked up to the Stratus above... feeling its dispersed lights penetrating his being... feeling the Forest pulsing along with his heartbeat... Being alive felt good !!

---------------

Deia walked as silently as _she_ could, trying to conceal _her_ presence as best as it's possible. Cold sweat ran down _her_ back, never in the past that this Forest disturb _her_ awareness so much like now. _Her_ mind was filled with alertness _she_ felt _her_ eyes as if going blind. Relaying prussian orbs staring at _her_ with a Wild's naiveté to counter the mental disturbance the Forest attacked _her_ with with, _she_ held _her_ head high and kept walking with gracefulness of a royal towards where _her_ heart knew that _her_ Prussian was waiting.

---------------

The boy stretched out his right hand towards the Land, the whitefire whirled down and sucked in by his body, being concentrated in his open right palm in a bright little ball of white-light.

Kylle, prefering that the intruder should rather use that immense power he'd detected to his Lady's Pet coming this way, opened a slight gap in the Barrier so the intruder could come in without damaging it.

In a flash second there was a reflection of himself on the Barrier's surface that rippled as if of water, then gone to invisible Barrier again. After it happened for three times, the boy lowered his right hand and absorbed back the white-light to his hand, he narrowed his eyes and blasted his whitefire again to protect his being and floated pass the Barrier slowly. Aside from a light white-currents charged the Air, there was nothing else happened from the penetrated Barrier.

He stood unmoving for a while, then slowly but certain he looked up to the high giant tree branch at his far rightside. Stared straight to the other being's eyes there.

Kylle sat lazily on the branch with a rueful smile on his immaculate fairish face, his shining bright-red irises stared back unflinchingly. With hair the color of blood and long pointy ears protruding from both sides of his head, the boy knew that this being was not a human. From each of the outeredges of his slightly slanted eyes were two redlines down his cheek as a supposedly body-mark of status or something like that. A bandanna covered his forehead under his long bangs, his hair was long messy-cut around his head that reached his waist, and a long 'tail' of braid snuck out of it that reached his ankles.

He drooped his eyes in a supposedly smile that hidden behind the end of his braid he was playing with in front of his face. Noticing the recognition in the whitefire-eyes on his, he chuckled slightly..

((...Yes ! We've 'met' before... I thought that you really could see me back then, but I didn't think that you could be able to recognise me still afterwards...!)) Straightened his back and dropped the braid end.

(( Well... I never really 'met' YOU, though...!)) His red eyes flashed with fiendish interest.

A bright white explosion incinerated the space Kylle was at, the energy ate the Air at the exact area that it didn't even produce a sound of blast, just a deaf second and the warped space around it. After the explosion, the surrounding space bounced back to its supposed state, rippling with a ringing sound. A big 'hole' created in the exploded space, inside it another layer of barrier shimmering with multiple specks of colors dancing in endless flow.

((... My, my... What a bright self-introduction..!! You're a straightforward type, aren't you.. )) Kylle solidify himself from the scattered ashes of the incinerated-space still floating around in the Air, and transfered himself to the space behind the indifferent boy. But before his body solidify to concrete object, the bright explosions strucked again, this time blasted his body along with the Forest's trees behind him leaving his body a poor remain of ragged-doll with chunks and parts missing in large holes.

But he chuckled again deeper, and shrugged himself to normal figure like nothing happen.

((Definitely not a chatting type, hu...?)) Kylle smiled calmly and flicked his head a little to dodge the next blast directed to blow his head off.

((Though I'd rather like to play with you myself, I'm in a bind here...!)) He lifted his hand palms open in front of his chest, not really a surrendering gesture, just a sign for the boy to stop his attacks.

((The one you're after is not really this dear-me, right..?!)) his smile never faltered.

((How about you just let me watch and I won't disturb you ?))

The surface-memories relayed to his eyes were of this entity sitting on the giant white-tree branch smiling at his surface-self, some were as if pleasant images, some were of his figure among the villagers and hunters and mercenaries, moving as if in slow motions, whispering deceiving words to their very-minds. While his surface-self struggled to survive with all his might, Kylle was there too, everywhere... with the same angelic smile still on his face.

The boy's whitefire-eyes stared at him undaunted.

Kylle chuckled.

(( No answer means 'no', hu...?!))

The whitefire surrounding the boy swirled its flames to spheres around him.

Deep chuckle.. ((..Even if I myself say it's quite an intimate invitation, but I'd have to decline your offer. Even so, I like my playground as neat as they are, though...!!)) Kylle flicked his fingers upward before the boy blasted the spheres again.

Then a low heavy groan sounded from the whole Forest, almost like a grating sound of a gigantic living metal-thing being awakened, it reverberated through out the Air, travelled along the Forest's canopy surrounding the whole Land, coming towards them.

The sound stopped a mere second, the space gone deaf, then suddenly a vivid colorful light blasted down upon the boy, trying to crush him down. The soil around him in the vivid light were floated upward by the assault, while the effect was contradictory for him. The whitefire flared in wild dance trying to oppose the pressure, the spheres of whitefire had been fired upward towards the light's source, but they had been nullified easily by the light's enclosing wall, sucked to a screwing maneuver along the wall upward to nothingness.

The whitefire blasted itself, soaring vertical, slicing the light's wall with several white lights... then a booming sound was heard.

In the thick layers of ashes and soil and dust, after a moment of silence, stood a transparent tower of crystalized light. It stood solid and perfect for a few seconds, then a crack appeared on its surface, climbed up along the vertical structure followed by uncountable cracks that were intermingling with each others. Then with a clear chiming sound the tower broke into thousands of pieces and shards and specks of light-dusts showering around the standing boy in the middle, without the whitefire surrounding his figure.

Kylle stood blinked with large eyes on him, then clapped his hands continously with an awe-shock-to-silenced expression on his face, even that he sweatdropped a lot.

. . . . . . . "...I've never seen anyone do THAT to break that-... 'THAT'...!!"

"...COOL...!!!" he said outloud...

...-I'm in a NO-cool situation, then... Damn !!- he thought to himself, while still applausing the monstrous entity in a boy's form in front of him.

---------------

"...What was that..?" Lyea asked mostly to herself looking around at the Forest's surrounding.

"Milady, it's dangerous in here, you should go back to the Castille...!" Kyllea whispered behind her with a small bow to her head level.

"We have to retrieve..-"

"The missing people should be able to be rescued by the Charms..!"

"But Dearest is...-"

"...-Safe with my-half ! Milady, with all due respect...!"

"... I'm NOT a standing ICON of this Land, Kyllea...!!" Lyea said hotly, staring chalengingly to the maiden's maroon eyes.

"... No, Milady...!" She said amenably albeit sounded a bit tired. And they continued their walk through the Forest.

((...Yo, sister-mine...?)) just then Kylle opened connection in their one-mind.

((...I'm not your sister..!!))

((...hahaa, cute ! ... new circumstance here...! Our little intruder here turned out to be an immortal...!!))

(( What ?! What do you mean imm-...!! )) greeted her teeth, let out a slow hiss.. (( Seal him !! ))

(( Tried THAT.., didn't work ! ...But cool !! )) a childish cuckle.

Kyllea narrowed her eyes.

(( ...What are you doing now...?! ))

A squealed laughter ((...Dear-me ?! Playing hide-n-seek..!!)) another shrill..

((...Kylle...!!)) she hissed dangerously

(( Ahaahaa...!! I mean it, sister-mine, I'm hiding-he's seeking...! –Ouch !!))

---------------

... A blast managed to incinerated his 'tail' behind his running figure, Kylle hissed out a swearword in ancient language, then flicked it back to normal and curled it around his left wrist. Without seeing with his eyes, he knew the boy was tailing him like a white lightning, without a sound, and without needing solid surface for his footing. Even that he kept randomly transfered to other places in rapid shifts, the boy kept getting to him even before he manage to solidify his body in each leap.

While the whole time he was feeling sorry for his ruined playground...

---------------

(( ...Kylle, take him below..!! ))

(( Ahh ! Can I use some digested suplements down there ...??? )) He asked with sweet tone.

Kyllea silenced for a moment, then..

"Milady, what if we're already too late to find the missing people save...?"

"We'll find them anyway, and we'll go back to the Castille together, ...all of us !" Lyea answered silently, in the back of her mind she knew there were many things that were hidden from her knowledge, too many in fact, so she just tried to keep holding to what she think is the right thing to keep. She could only keep walking straight, with a naiveté of a child, because this Land corrupted many things.

Kyllea nodded obediently, quite a distance behind them a young Charms followed their steps stoically, while the other including the Lord had separated in many directions.

(( Kylle, you can't digest the missing people in the Under, Milady's bidding ! ...just deal with him below so there's nomore damage to the Forest ! ))

...a mental snort... like he didn't want his playground to be as neat as ever..!!

---------------

Noting that the boy didn't have his whitefire to protect his being anymore, Kylle tranfered for the last time feeling his nerves tingling with gambling exitement. The boy frozen for a fraction of second when Kylle appeared in front of him in his personal space, opening his right palm to his face. When a bright redlight exploded his vision he managed to swing his right hand and struck the offending hand in front of his face to his side in teared state. The left hand came shooting to grab the boy's neck, but his fingers only managed to brush the ethereal skin as his left shoulder blown along with half of his body.

So the boy had anticipated that, ...Kylle leered widely, his bright-red irises narrowed down to almost a slit vertical line in each of his widened eyes. But not this one ..!!

The boy perceived another presence behind him, and suddenly a pair of hands snucked from behind his back and blasted a redlight to his chest where his craft-plate planted. He felt a surge of power from it countering the blast, using his body as a battleground. He tried to lift his hand but Kylle in front of him grabbed both his smaller hands in his.

"...NO !" he hissed, "You can't win against your own seal in your chest, stop fighting or you'll give more damage to yourself...!!"

The one behind him who kept shooting the redlight chuckled deeply, the boy widened his eyes and arched his head, his eyes countered another Kylle's eyes. The Kylle behind him smiled sweetly and kissed the top of his head. "Sweet dream, Little Deity...!"

And the three of them plunged down to the ground, where the white soil opened like water surface swallowing them.

---------------

Deia gasped as _she_ felt a surge up _her_ nerves and fell down forward on _her_ knees. _Her_ breath was labored and cold sweat ran down _her_ chin to the ground. Feeling _her_ body trembled uncontrolably, _something's wrong, something's wrong..._ _her_ mind kept repeating the words. A Charms who had been following _her_ ran towards her with concern and crouched at _her _side.

"...Lady Deia..?" he asked silently.

"...the...space sucked... under...!" Deia gasped the words with difficulty. The Charms widened his eyes, he turned his head in several directions fast. Noting that there was noone else beside them in the area, not even a smallest beast.

Deia's hand grabbed his white cloak brought his mind back to the little girl, _she_ seemed like trying to say something else but couldn't. The Charms bit his lower lip for a while, then nodded to himself.

"Milady, I'll try to make it short...!" he whispered and took a couple deep breaths, "...this Forest was... well, Howard used to call it our Land's mine-field, it consisted of the upper-space, the one as the common Forest that we already knew, the other one was the Underspace, the Forest that we Charms were afraid of... It was believed to be made of layers of other-spaces where the Forest devoured any living things that entered them. The deeper the layer was the harder for them to get out, and rumors had spread even between the villagers that this Forest had its own will and sometimes acted as though a living thing itself...!" –of course, there were still things he skipped.

Deia's gaze stared him with alert. That's why the other Charms separated ways from _her_, to enter this Underspace without revealing to _her_ ?

The Charms looked down guiltily, "Yes, I know how to get there... but Howard strictly forbid me to take you to the Underspace. There's too many risks and..-"

"...How...?!" Deia asked brokenly between _her_ gasps.

Staring back at _her_ eyes that were full with determination bordering to desperation, the Charms silenced for a few moments, then staring back to the ground he uttered a small "...'m sorry.."

Deia tossed the Charms' cloak in _her_ hand and forcefully threw _her_ body upward. After staggering a few steps forward _she_ stood slumply but rigid with stubbornness. The Charms turned to _her_, intended to say something, but he widened his eyes in disbelieve when he saw that Deia opened _her_ Harmony-link, trying to formulate _her_ Harmony to do what ever _she_ think _she_ have to do.

"...Milady..!!" the Charms threw his body spontaneously covering _her_ small body to the ground, a purple cloud of aura shimmering around them, while the older Charms tried frantically to pushed the Harmony down to _her_ opened link back before the Forest manage to devour it..._her_..!

"Opening Harmony-link in here is suicide...-!" his words stop abruptly when he countered Deia's gaze who flicked at his sidelong. It said 'tell me your way, or I'll do it my way'...

He was strucked speechless with jaw dropped for quite a moment, never in his Charms' live that he had managed being ... blackmailed...?? In fast thinking he formulated Howard's (..face ?) reaction on the matter; he'll be hell-ragingly mad with a (fatherly..??) grin on his face and a ruminating summon-camel (which was gossiped could chew a Charms) behind...The worse part would be General Odin; with carnivorish sneer holding his awaken talisman-sword fulminating the air with its Fairs' power and a black warsteed baring its beast's teeth behind... Then, the worst would be The Lord's reaction should anything happen to his youngest daughter; he'd be... staring at him with a straight unreadable expression, ...and staring...and staring... and staring... and just staring... if that didn't work out; ... the hurt puppy eyes brimmed with sheen of tears...------ AAAAAAAAAGGHHHH...!!!!!! Can't have that..!! NEVER that...!!!! The WHOLE LAND will hate him if he ever make The Lord crying his puppy eyes out...---------

"... What're you thinking...?!!" Deia whispered low suspiciously with eyes two slits of purple light burned at his face which was melted with cold sweat like heavyrain.

The young Charms jerked his mind back to reality, and noticed that both his hands were painfully gripping hair at both side of his head; the small Lady was lied on the ground, and he was half crouching covering _her_ feet with his white Charms' cloack spread wide... talking about illicit display... He was fossilized for a second, then swiftly kneeled at _her_ side in a blur of white, bowing repeatedly chanting his apology again and again.

Feeling _her_ self composed again with _her_ Harmony shielding the sharp atmosphere in the Forest, Deia sat up and stared at him with poised face. "...I'll tell on you to my father; ...or you could just -" _she_ stopped intentionally; the young Charms stopped alertly.

"... Or maybe, to my father and Howard...?" _she_ faked the thinking pose; "...AND Odin...???" with an innocent face, then bloomed a beautiful smile.

"... AND Lyea, AND all the Charms, AND the whole Castile... ANNNND the WHOOOLE LAND... the Fairs, the Spells, the Voids, the beasts, the plants, the weird-noses-looking flower-pet at Howard's bedroom window, the sneezing alcohol-alergic whistler wineglass of Father's , the-..." (and so on)

Is _she_ for real...?? That was what his braincells whispering to each other in his frozen brain. While the Lady Deia in front of him distractedly counting every things that came to _her_ mind using both _her_ hands' fingers with a happy face. When _she_'d got to the 'name' of "Untamed Jelly-brick of the Seventh Grinning-Pan" (the name of an 'alien' _she_ made once when trying to cook a dessert a few years ago that had managed to DIGEST more than half of the castle's kitchen), the young Charms sighed defeatedly...

"Milady..."

"Sooooo...????" Deia sharply focused _her_ attention at his face.

The Charms smiled a tired affectionate smile, "Alright...!". Deia beamed at once, "With one condition,...-"

"I won't tell on you to noone...!!!" _she_ gave the brightest smile _she_ could muster. "No, not that..!!" he said counter cuttingly with a sweatdrop.

He sighed again "You have to promise me that you WILL survive..!!"

"What ever happens !!" He stared at _her_ eyes with a no-nonsense seriousness, "You will survive even if that means sacrificing my live in the process !! Can you do that ?!"

Deia blinked, "Wha-...!" caught _her_ words and recomposed _her_self in only a full second, _she_ stared back at him with a collected resolve burned in _her_ purple eyes, _she_ nodded once.

_She_ looked down to _her_ lap in silence, and after a few moments _she_ said calmly "...I don't know your name !" (as most Charms usually use their appointed Charms-name rather then their given name, since they familiarize each other with their inimitable Harmony signature).

The Charms didn't answer, after some moment passed Deia looked up at his face inquiringly. He kept his lips shut tightly with a sense of pride wrenching his expression. When Deia opened _her_ mouth to ask again, he answered cuttingly in a blow of breath with instant tear-tracks on his cheeks,

"Seventh Cloud, grin-tamer of the Seventh Grinning-Pan...!!" it was from the very incident that he was famous of taming Lady Deia's "accidental-party" accomplices.

Deia's laughter brayed out like music, and a flash of silvery purple brushed his sight. _She_ was hugging him with a soulful air, for a short seconds he felt the heavy atmosphere of the Forest lifted and he felt serene. "Thankyou..." _Her_ whisper brought him back, though.

_She_ looked up "We'll all go home ! All of us !!" and said in a sure tone.

---------------

It was soft, the Air didn't felt like sharp blades cutting his body inside out; felt like floating...

He tried to open his eyes several times, when they did he realized that he was in an alien world of clouds and smokes. The air moved like layers of silky smoke as of river's currents, the pillars resembling trees were of white clouds, he couldn't see the ground under his weightless body but he was sure it was of plushy clouds too. Countless smoky ropes were extended from the 'sky' to the 'ground' like the ropes of a boat's sails. If possible, the light even felt velvety...

He felt sleepy.

_... kaeritai..._ (1) his heart whispered to himself.

Between awareness and unavoidable sleepiness, with alarms wrecked his tired almost unresponsive mind, he closed his eyes again. Even though his instinct told him that he won't beable to open his eyes again the second time once he surrender his consciousness to the alien world.

((...at least you won't go in pain...!)) a soft breathy telepathy weaved in the smoky air.

He jerked his eyelids half open, and after a long moment he perceived a pressence behind his body. Firstly, of a pair of smoky hands encircled his chest, then the light brushes of airy-wisps of hair that were floated around him, then the feeling of securance from a kiss on top of his head, a small serene smile on its velvety lips. He felt like drunk... overwhelmed in an ecstatic way...

_...felt like dying..._ in a nice way, ...perhaps too nice.

..._...want to go home... _

_((...Don't you have a home ?))_

_the boy blinked;_

_((...at least somewhere to go to..)) –besides here_

'_...I don't need home !' _

_his stare became somewhat unreadable with frosty edge, he swallowed his dry throat once and looked down at his bare feet_

_- I need you..._

_...I need you..._ he repeated the words halfconsciously, stretched his right hand to the _figure_'s face in front of him, or at least tried to; but he only managed to lift a few fingers while the _figure_'s form was slowly dispersing from his mind. His breath hitched, even though the air in that alien world was so very easy to breathe, he didn't want that... he wanted his misery..., his beautiful black-misery with one purple eye in the darkness.

_I bleed for you ... !!_

His heart screamed, and a thunderous pulse from the craft-plate jerked his already wrecked body. Feeling as his heart would stop anytime now, he let the destructive power he'd tried to conceal all this time loose. A monstrous black energy blasted soaring sky and groundward...

Stared wide-eyed at the many layers of "skies" the power hollowed out far upon him... feeling his body lost to the odds...

he stopped breathing...

---------------

Deia watched with big eyes as the last row of the circles finished, the young Charms licked his bleeding right forefinger once to close the bitten wound. The blood circles of incantation drawn on the Air was floating like a round mirror in front of them. Deia blinked.

"...Now I enter..??" _she_ half asked doubtfully.

"It's just like the Key, milady...we make the door first" he smiled.

Deia wrinkled _her_ brows. That many works...?

"Then we have to knock..!"

"KNOCK...?!" _she_ asked skeptically.

"It's bassically sincronizing the Wave of our plane with the Wave of the Under-plane; the resonance will-"

"Open the gate ?"

"No, swallow you..!"

Another blink, deeper brows. "----How ?" _A resonance could swallow...???_

"It will disperse you to the Under's wave-type !"

"You mean like convert my body to Wave...?!"

He nodded, "Yes."

If _she_ fails to concentrate _her_ Wave-body in the Air means _she_'d be the same as dead; being what called as the alien-substances that were feared of as the tale-teller of the Air, digested and recycled. Sounds like organic-trash !! Or organic-fertilizer...? May be... parasites ?? Well, _she_ sure didn't want to be degraded to the same level of compost or manure ! Anyway, _she_ WILL get _her_ Prussian back save and sound and nurture him to health; furthermore, to give him a happy life; and _she_ won't have it any other way.

"I'll be your shield, Milady. You don't have to wory about concentrate-failure in the Air, just concentrate on getting your objectives." he said with a knowing smile, Deia was egoistic sometimes, but _she_ never intentionally put any other being on the loss.

"..., I know." _she_ half answered to _her_self.

The young Charms lifted both his handpalms opened to the circles, formulating the Wave in his body, when a telephatic shout boomed in his mind.

"SEVENTH !! What're you doing ?!!"

He jumped and spontaneously twisted his neck it sounded a loud crack. Deia stared wide-eyed at his neck, not hearing the telepathy since it's not intended for _her_.

"...Thrice...! I... well..."

"You're sending Little Lady to the Under ?! ARE YOU INSANE ??!!"

A whitelight flashed around them, and when it stopped a younger Charms around mid teenage was crouching on the white ground, his wide cloak flowed behind with additional long scarf around his neck giving him to tails.

He stood and faced _her_, his air was straightforward, and his face clearly showed his disagree to them.

"Little Lady, those who are not able to stabilize their Wave in different air ARE strictly FORBIDDEN to go outside the Land Barrier and/or the UNDER !"

Deia stared, under the gauze-like bandana around his head _she_ could 'see' another eye on his forehead with _her_ Harmony. This was 'Thrice', the famous Charms gossiped by the people as the descendant of a chimera. _She_ never really met him this upclose before, with his abilities far surpassed common human-Charms he was usually sent to many fieldworks.

"...You have horns..!" Deia said mostly to _her_self. There were four of them, although they're covered from commoners' eyes, the small horns adorning his head were seen clearly by _her_ eyes. A red line-like mark above his third eye half covered by the bandana. _Ah, one of the Special Force..!_

"Milady..!" he scowled.

"Yes ?!" Deia answered surprised from _her_ distraction.

"Old Howard and the others had managed to retrieve the missing people. So they're absolutely coming this way, SENSING the formulation of going to the Under...!!" he glared to his older comrade sidelong, intentionally pressing the last words.

"Better get ready for your funeral! I'm not covering you this time...!" practically, because there's nothing he could cover this time. 'Seventh' paled despite his innocent 'what do I do?' smile.

"How about Prussian ?!" Deia clinged to his front cloak surprised him a little. "He should be in there? I thought Odin's taking him outside..!" he answered automatically.

_She_ opened _her_ mouth instantly, but finding no proof of what _she_ believe to be the case. _She_ clamped _her_ mouth and staring at the grounds. While 'Seventh' tried a few words with him, a firm glare from his younger fellow shut him up completely. He looked to the muted Deia guiltily, and joined _her_ staring at the grounds.

'Thrice' placed his open palm in the center of the blood-circles floating in the Air, the space rippled a few times then the drawn blood ceased to dusts and joined the white ground. He turned to them without another stare to the dusted circles.

"We should head back to the Castile, Little Lady."

Deia bit _her_ lips stubbornly, but didn't refuse when he ushered them back. With every small steps _she_ took, _she_ felt as if _her_ heart failed _her_. Time slowed down, and _her_ breath felt hardened as if breathing mud, the Air around _her_ felt like congealing, and _her_ sight misty. Up front _she_ could see the others coming _her_ way, but _her_ heart was left behind.

_She_ stopped. Lyea was the one in front of them all, she had a relief smile on her face. She was wording something, their father behind her after Kyllea, Howard was from the direction of their right, followed by a few Charms. Two other Charms was from their left. Seemed like the other Charms had gone back with the retrieved people.

But _her_ heart was left behind...

Deia grated _her_ clamped mouth, then without warning _she_ dashed back to the ground where _she_ knew _her_ Prussian was under. _She_ ran as fast as _she_ could knowing that the Charms could stop _her_ as easily as extending their hands anytime. _She_ didn't hear the surprise shouts calling _her_ name, didn't see the worried faces, didn't care the people running behind _her_. As fast as _she_ could,...or _her_ heart dies.

A flash of whitelight catched up to _her_ with no difficulty, _she_ felt rather than saw 'Thrice' extended his hand from _her_ side to stop _her_. The shimmering of the tears from _her_ eyes caught him, though. He just compromised himself to stay close to the Little Lady like a shadow at _her_ side, with a hand at _her_ front going to encircled _her_ small body, he ran along almost backpedaling.

Suddenly the ground shake violently with a loud roaring sound. Deia fell forward to his waiting hand and 'Thrice' stopped, covering _her_ body with his flowing cloak. A deafening crash sounded not too far ahead, where the dusts of the circles left on the ground, as a monstrous power exploded from under it.

Deia closed _her_ eyes in 'Thrice''s embrace, waiting the explotion wave to die down. _Her_ heart beating painfully as if it'd exploded too. _She_ tried to wrench _her_ eyes open, and when the air cleared of the projectiles blown by the blast, in the middle of the dust-rings surrounding the explosion point and white-smokes and blacklight... was _her_ Prussian floating in mid-air.

_She_ couldn't even call his name by the sheer relief and too many feelings piled up that bursted out instantly, and just threw _her_ body towards him.

'Thrice' saw the wide hollow in the ground that led to the Underspace, he immediately snatched Deia's body and the boy's floating smaller body in the way. They landed quite a distance from the hollow that was groaning loud an almost painful inhuman sound. He lowered both his charges on the ground, where the boy lied lifelessly and Deia crouched at his side. Stood at their side, 'Thrice' stared unblinking at the hollow gap closing on itself, he was dumbfounded by the many layers of the Underspace he managed to glimpse while he was flashing above it.

The panic voice of Deia calling Prussian's name brought his senses back.

"He's not breathing !!" Deia cried. 'Thrice' crouched too, sensing the missing heartbeat he couldn't sense from the unconscious boy.

Deia blindly brushed his face a few times, trying to wake him up, but he's as lifeless as a dead clay-doll. Putting _her_ hand on his chest, didn't find the beating of his heart, Deia put both hands and prepared to give him a cardiac massage.

"...I wouldn't do that...!!" Howard's breathless voice sounded behind _her_.

Deia froze, _her_ mind tried to decipher his words. Suddenly _her_ frantic panic driven acts stopped, as if a different consciousness took over _her_ previous mind. _She_ sat back putting _her_ hands on _her_ lap, and _she_ exhaled slowly as if started to breath again. With shaky fingers _she_ unfastened the boy's tunic under his cloak, and found the uncanny bruise in his chest.

Howard flinched a little, staring at the little girl distractedly brushed the blackened chest.

"...why..." _her_ shaky whisper almost unheard.

"...Girl,..." Howard said guiltily, but seeing as Deia had stopped caring _her_ surrounding, he shut his mouth.

The other people stopped at a distance. Lyea was going to run to them, but The Lord stopped her.

Deia sobbed silently, still brushing his pale face blindly, calling him over and over. _Her_ cries got louder with the passing time, but _her_ Prussian lied still.

Lyea cried without a sound, mostly because Deia's cry stabbed her heart so painfully. She unconsciously gripped Kyllea's sleeve. The maid turned her face to her, then gave a small reassuring smile sadly.

((...It's better for both of them this way, Milady. That boy's an immortal.))

Lyea looked at her, after a few moments she asked in her heart '...immortal ?'

'..you mean like... the Pre-Dark Era Immortals..?' (2)

Kyllea nodded a little.

Lyea stared back at the lamenting scene, '...even an immortal dies, Kyllea...'

And Deia was begging him unendingly.

'...and the ones left behind by an immortal still feel sad...!'

Unknown to everyone, he was still there all along, hearing every word his Human cried, the touches _her_ cold shaky fingers gave him. _Her_ warm tears seeped through his closed eyelids, with last desperation he tried to open his eyes. Summoning all his shattered consciousness back to reality, to his Human's reality.

Deia froze when _she_ saw the eyelids fluttered open slowly. Just slits of grayish prussian color, but they're really moved.

Not daring to breathe, _she_ ever so slowly touched his chest, _her_ broken whisper broke the silent air.

"...Pru...?" there's still no heartbeat under _her_ palm, nor the up and down movements of the chest indicating his breathing.

The despair wrecked _her_ once again, killing the flicker of hope with certainty. "...Please !"

The boy just stared blindly at _her_, unmoving. 'Thrice' dared himself and was going to say that maybe it was just a reaction of muscle contraction that were wetted by _her_ tears, but he swallowed the words when he realize that the boy's head was leaning a little at _her_ open hand cupping his face.

"He couldn't breathe the Air, Lady Dee...!" Howard said silently.

The slitted eyes fluttered close and with difficulty they opened a slit again, then closed completely.

"NOOOOOPrussianpleaselivepleasepleaseplease..!!" Deia cried frantically.

"Honey, ... you're weighing his leave. Let him-.." The Lord hadn't finish his words.

"-Free of his misery..?!" Deia breathed explosively. "I _KNOW_ MISERY, BEING DEAD DIDN'T LIFT THE PAINS AWAY!!!" Then yelled at the top of _her_ lungs at them, making The Lord jumped by the weight of emotions carried in _her_ voice, by the stranger's expression shadowing _her_ face. It was as if _she_ spoke out of experience, someone else's...-

He swallowed once.

-...voice..?

The boy's body jerked up once almost as the same time as _she_ finished _her_ scalding yell. This time his eyes were wide open, but still they're glassed and unseeing. He was trying a few gasps, but seemingly his lungs wouldn't work. Just a poor resemblance of fish out of water.

And that was his last leap trying to catch and hold on to his lifethread.

And as if knowing it, Deia instinctly covered his open mouth with _her_ own.

_...breathe through me..! _

---------------

---------------

(1) japaneese, of course; means '-I- want to go home'

(2) will be explained in the _next chapter_, hopefully it'll be the last chapter of the current timeline. n n;

This chapter is the longest so far, for any of you who've been waiting patiently for new updates, YAAAAAYYY...Wu-chan's already being fixed, and currently being the fave of the house's inhabitants (for playing PC games), we have to actually queuing!


	11. rained

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku march 01, 2007 **

**# 11 rained **

_...I want You, but You don't need me.._

_...I found You, but You never see me.._

The wind blew, unendingly tale-telling everything in its paths with its own language. The sands were blown parted and mixed with each others, grails of different times, different lands, different histories. The sunlight stabbed everything below it, while the sky a sheet of deep ocean's colour tantalizing every eyes who dared to see it with a promise of coolness to escape from the scalding heat.

A lone beast's skeleton lied half buried by the sands, the wind whistling through its holes and cavities, its remnants of spines scattered around it. Its blackholes of eyes stared unseeingly towards the whiteland in front of it.

Far behind it, the sands rippled like little waves, moving forward through the dunes like a tide closing in.

---------------

Deia shut _her_ eyes tightly, searching for the loose end of the lifethread that had been separated from the one with a naive prussian orbs. Feeling _her_ tears burned hotly and flowing like an endless prayer. Still, the smaller body under _her_ lied unmoving. Nomore of its jerky breathless gasps, nor the little trembling of his chin when he stopped his futile gasps. _She_ felt it when his sight darkened to black as if it was _her_ own. Felt the plunge to darkness like an unstopable nightmare's fall.

_...stop falling...!_ _Her_ heart begged.

_Please, just stop falling !!_ _She_ cried _her_ heart out. Feeling it bleed, colouring the dark to red.

((...do You need me...?))

A soft breeze blew _her_ mind with a language alien to _her_ knowledge, but _she_ understood the unspoken words.

_...please..._

A shining hand extended towards the falling boy swallowed by the darkness.

((...I found you...)) it said reverberating the red flows like a living currents of blood. Extending _her_ heart to the boy's. To grasp the feeling of lost emanating from the dead boy's heart of heart. Something old and more ancient than the Fairs'. _She_ felt a presence embracing _her_ existence from behind. It spread like a blanket of longing and emptiness.

Somewhere outside _her_ mind the voices calling _her_ name eventually reached _her_ awareness, they brought _her_ consciousness back to the reality far above. _She_ felt the ripples of hopes on the surface, and opened _her_ eyes.

... and found two orbs of charcoaled prussian so close to _her_s.

_She_ widened _her_ eyes in disbelief. The prussians burned at _her_ eyes with words unspoken for so many years.

In _her_ surprise _she_ gave out a yelp muffled by the boy's mouth. His body jerked a little, closing his eyes as if hurting. It's like a little tremor jarred his pains to live. Deia panickly froze with a terrified stares.

Eventually _she_ felt the eyes of everyone burned at them, the frantic confusion of what to do next was radiating from _her_ like a thick cloud.

"...I.. was saying that it worked, Dearest...," Lyea spoke with a stunned expression by _her_ side, "...but I don't think THAT would work out for the rest of your lives...!"

'_THEN, what should I dooo...?!!!_' _she_ asked mostly to _her_self, knowing the others would know _her_ frantic thoughts without a word out.

In the background _she_ heard Howard humming something unintelligible. While The Lord stood in paralysis with sweat running like rains on his face. Deia blinked once as the image of that was clear in _her_ mind, then realized of the sight around _her_. _She_ blinked again as cold shaky fingers touched _her_ left cheek ghostly, _she_ _saw_ it in _her_ mind before _she_ actually felt it. The fingers pushed _her_ face up lightly.

_She_ looked back to the prussians, finding they didn't charcoaled as much as before, a little more transparent color shading them. _She_ let the ghostly fingers led _her_ head up, leaving the partly opened mouth of the boy's. He closed his dry lips, still locking his gaze with _her_s.

"...C.. can you... breathe ?" Deia asked not caring how _her_ voice sounded at the present.

He didn't move for sometimes, then lifted the hand he used to touch Deia's face with, to the front of his face. He clutched his grip tightly so the skin of his palm broke by his sharp nails. The blood dripped heavily, but before it touched his pale face, shoots of blackness ran through his skin and covered the lowerhalf of it just under his large eyes. They absorbed the blood instantly when it touched the surface, and as if a living thing, the shoots reshaped themselves to one piece of half-face armor mask, with few shoots left on the sides of his face made some curves half-circling the edges of his eyes and brows, as if some tattoo pattern.

Deia widened _her_ eyes in horror. "That... _It_.. consumes your blood... inside ?!" _she_ looked back and forth to his chest and face.

The tired black-glazed prussian eyes blinked at _her_ once.

_...I can handle it... for the time being... _

"Is it really okay..?! Can you really breathe through it ?!"

_No... IT breaths for me..._

_She_ lifted both brows.

_... I compromised..!_

"...Oh..!" _she_ replied lamely, feeling tons of relief crushed _her_, and the lost of adrenaline surge and anxiety. _Her_ hands dropped to _her_ lap, and _she_ stared him with a dull face. _She_ froze for a long moment, then tears dripped from _her_ stunned eyes again. And _she_ started to sob silently.

Wiped the tears that kept flowing with both hands in turns, _she_ muttered the gratefullness welled up from _her_ heart again and again.

"...I was so afraid..." _she_ said between sobs, "..you'll have to make it up to me... or I'll hate you..."

"You don't ever do that again...!! I'll hate you...!" _she_ cried.

The people around them gave _her_ a smile, Howard messed _her_ hair a little.

_...sorry..._ He stared half stunned.

"NO SORRY FOR YOU !! DON'T ever try to die on me AGAIN !! 'Cause I won't let you...!!!" _she_ barked with vigor.

The boy's eyes drooped a little in soft expression.

_... I know..._

"Good !!" _she_ nodded. Then blinked.

"GWHAAAAAAAAAAA...????!! I'm hearing your miiiind...!!" _She_ yelled. "Right ?! Right ?!!"

---------------

"You really did this...?!" The Lord's blue brows lifted with awestruck disbeliefment. He looked up and down the clear ice-like shell Odin and his warsteed was trapped in. The shell shaped like flames soaring up made of crystals, he hummed to himself, thinking that it'd be NICE to be in his chamber (with the charges inside it looked more dramatics).

"Can I touch it...??" his eyes shone big and bright like a child given a new toy he never seen before.

Prussian stared at the grounds guiltily, he kept messing his fingers since they asked him about Odin some time ago.

"Milord...!" Howard roled his eyes behind his black spectacles. The six Charms stood around them with an 'O' on their mouths, only 'Thrice' scowled with something unpleasant written on his face. He stretched his neck to front and sniffed slowly.

"Smells like fire !" he said silently. He never liked fire.

The Lord snatched back his curious hand sharply as if been stung. "Really ?" And sniffing the smell.

"I don't smell any burns..." Howard sniffed the air too.

"It's not burning... It's just...stopped !" 'Thrice' answered as if to himself.

"It stopped the time inside?!" The Lord asked with brows shooting up. "Well, good for him, then! Say, maybe we could just let him in there till I got a little _older_ than him...??" he inquired closely to Prussian's face, his brows moved up and down suggestively.

Pffth. "What's an older face good for if someone still acts childishly...?" Howard mumbled.

"I HEARD that !!" The Lord said flatly.

Howard stucked out his tongue behind his back.

Deia grasped the boy's nervous hands gently before he make them bleed each others with their sharp nails. "You can undo it, right? Noone's angry with you...!" _She_ tried a comforting smile.

"Although... IF you'd say you couldn't, just in case, I think How-ward has many aquaintances he could ask for help, they'll go abroad if they have to...!"

Some of the Charms let out an explosive cough, that were suspiciously sounded like a choked laugh. They were the few of the ones who accompanied Howard back then when they found Deia and the boy with the Pack of wolves. Those words were exactly like what Howard had said to the Solo-beast, though at the time it was about the boy that he'd said it. It's like the boy's turned the tables on both of them. behind them, glaring from behind his spectacles, Howard cleared his throat.

_...would he be angry...?_ Prussian took a guilty glimpse at Deia's eyes, _she_ understood it was about Odin.

"Hmm, I think you had definitely caught him off guard, he didn't even know what had struck him...!" Deia said as if to _her_self. "So I guess Old-din won't remember much of it, unless we tip him off afterwards!"

Howard flicked his eyes towards the children as the realization of Deia's words struck his mind. Seeing the facts presented at them that's most likely the case, the General didn't spare a chance against the little boy. He repeated the words slowly in his mind, feeling they're a lot heavier compared to how Deia had voiced them. Prussian's black-glazed eyes hardened, a soft breeze blew around Howard told him that the boy realized what his thoughts were about.

Prussian didn't _say_ anything and stepped forward towards the clear-shell, extended his right hand without touching it. The clear coils of flame unlocked themselves and turned to helixes of whitelight spiraling around the boy's hand and body. The light disappeared then without anymore significance.

'Thrice' widened his eyes a little. _That's not his power, that was...--!_

A warsteed's neigh cut his thoughts. The sound of it's front legs dropped to the grounds heard after. Still caught by the danger it sensed before, the black warsteed sprang its front legs several times in a circle, baring its beast's sharp teeth wildly.

The people around them took a few steps back avoiding the creature half panickly, while the man riding it tried to calm it down. When it finally did, Odin noticed the people surrounding him and his warsteed with large unblinking eyes, among them also the boy who was supposed to be in his arm the last he saw him.

He just blinked.

... "Shouldn't you be more surprised than THAT...?!" The Lord asked flatly.

---------------

_...they're here...!! _

"What? Who ?!" Deia asked Prussian out of nowhere. The boy seemed like he'd been caught, looked back at _her_ with surprised eyes. Then _she_ realized something.

"...That wasn't suppose to be _heard_ by me, was it ?" _she_ frowned.

He kept staring with wide black-glazed eyes, the clear black glass-like coating covering his prussian orbs were most likely came with the black shoots-turned-armor on his half face. If _she_ were familiar with nightsky then _she_'d say they're of its colour, but since _she_ had never seen it, Deia only felt like _her_ prussian gems had been stolen from _her_ sights. _She_ didn't really hate it, after all black was _her_ favorite colour, it's just that _she_ felt like something missing from _her_ Prussian. The boy felt what _she_ felt, that's why he'd drawn himself a little since he gained his consciousness. Deia also felt it that the boy felt what _she_ felt, it backfired at _her_ with double force mixed with lots of things he's feeling at the moment.

"Look, ..." _She_ sighed. "I don't know how it came to this, but I'm certainly hearing your mind right now and more ! So your suppressed anxiety felt uncomfortable on me to say the least, couldn't you just make it easier for both of us and tell everyone who's here...?!"

"What are you murmuring about ?"

Deia turned _her_ head sharply to _her_ father, "There's something bothering..--"

"Chieftain...!" One of the Charms called repressively. They were all looking at the same direction towards the outlands.

"How many ?!" Odin asked flatly.

'Thrice' closed his eyes, "...about 30-50, at least !" he murmured.

"30 and 50 are quite a distanced sum...!" Howard lifted one of his brows.

"I couldn't get the exact amount,..-"

"..-They're Wilds, aren't they ?!" Odin said low with a hunger burning in his eyes. People who don't know his nature would say that it's almost sounded like a purring tone.

"They're underground enclosing in..-"

_..ME ! _

"_They're coming for me...!_" Deia halfconciously said centering all _her_ senses to the boy by _her_ side who was looking at the direction of the outlands.

_...'He' must have called them when I lost it... my inner-self ! _

"Your what...?!"

Without any warning he dashed off towards the dunes of sand laid far in front of them. "Wait !!" Deia ran after him without thinking.

"Deia !!" The Lord chased them too. "You can't just dash off out of the Circle like that !! You're still not reliable on your own outside !!"

The Charms spread into two groups automatically, ran in a straight line on each sides of them distanced by some intervals. Four maintaining their Harmony Circle mostly for Deia who still couldn't stabilize _her_ Wave especially outside the Land's Barrier, while the other three acted as the hazard shield. Normal eyes wouldn't see their doings, though, since their field was in Waves that were not even visible in specific ways such as aura. It's mostly their forte since Harmony-user's action could only be detected and counteracted by other harmony-users too. That's why most outlanders were that frightened by their abilities.

The OWLs, though, have their own notorious capabilities that were developed in their absurd ways in times. Their two sides were always like snakes and mongooses, although they haphazardly exchange the positions depends on their skills.

Prussian stopped when he felt the sands brushed his running feet and that the semi-damp soil under his soles turns to dry grains, above him he felt the sky's eyes on his being like he always liked it. The wind almost felt like it blew through his body, and his senses' sharpness were awakened by the many informations he could extract from the open air. Surroundings were drawn in his mind like maps super-imposed with each others, a complete set of every object around him. Although his sound-map was most likely monopolized by Deia's readings calling him, his movement-map was concentrated on the readings from the open grounds lied in front of him. He couldn't smell the air through the halfmask of black covering his face, but the thing in itself has its own senses and his mind automatically dechipering its readings.

To his surprise, the blackthing sent pulses similar to feelings to him, almost like when you tried to speak with someone of foreign language that you open your 'atmosphere' around you sending invisible waves of comprehension so that you could at least grasp where the unknown words were leading you. At the moment, the blackthing was intrigued by something that was most likely going to happen.

The boy blinked once. _That's odd...IT doesn't read something in physical. Something expanding like lines lengthen from back to front in paces...?_ He widened his eyes. _The extends of Time !!_

"Prussian..!!" Deia's outbreathed voice broke his concentration from close behind. Followed by _her_ repressed yelp when suddenly the sands around them exploded and some foul-smelling projectiles flew targeting on their bodies.

A clear Wave shot by the Charms behind them blasted the things back quite a distance. The exploding sands hit the ground backward like a tsunami tide, from its wall flung some creatures that were immediately landed on their fours. They were mostly looked like human, although quite disproportioned. Their limbs and fingers were long and thin like branches with bones sticking out of their joints, the forefingers were pulled close to the thumbs with a deep gap cut the palm between the fore and middle fingers, it reminded Deia of reptile's. Their upper trunks were hunched with bones on their upper spines stucked out like a shark's dorsal fin. Their disfigured heads and faces were mostly covered by the dirty long-cloths that wrapped them from heads to ankles like messy bandages. Their faces were almost flat with nostrils two holes in their front faces that could close like those of seals. Right now, they were breathing their smell with scrunched up faces. Slimy drools dripped from their wide ruptures of mouths with disorganized sharp teeth sticking here and there.

"Watch out !! They use poisons..!!" Howard yelled from behind. The Lord got to them first and instinctively enfolded one arm around Deia's shoulders and covered _her_ body with his wide cloak. _She_ tried to pull Prussian's unmoving body close but compromised to just hold his cloak and sleeve.

"They're not of this area..!!" Odin stopped his warsteed between them and the OWLs. "I've never met OWLs like them!" He said to The Lord.

The attackers made a rapid clicking sounds with their jaws to each others, which somehow represent their way of communication.

Deia opened _her_ eyes wide. _These are the OWLs..?!_ _She_ heard stories about them fairly often, but _she_ thought that they were kind of like bandits and thugs, not as such disfigured creatures like them. _SO, how could they compared my cute little Prussian with THOSE...?!_ Unconsciously _she_ scowled and pouted.

The creatures let out high pitched screeches almost at the same time, and more of them were bursting out of the sands. The foul-smelling projectiles came floating and opened themselves into semi-transparent yellow eyeballs about the size of an adult man's fist with hairs on top every each of them. In the eyeballs were several irises that moved at multiple directions rapidly.

"...yuck...!" Deia murmured to _her_self.

The hair on the eyeballs coiled and turned to stings, and launched at them without any signal from the creatures. Odin unsheathed his talisman-sword and gave a swing. The air blasted and hit few of them while the rest floated back with pupils enlarged as if storing up informations.

"Don't break those...!!" Howard caught up to The Lord's side breathing heavily. He's too old for footworks.

As the eyeballs broke, they bursted out with each iris turned into another eyeball connected with one another by some foul-yellowy slime webs that dripped heavily to the sands. A hissing sound heard when the slime dissolved the sands into boiling liquid, vapors and smells wafted in the wind to all around them.

"...Euh, that's disgusting !" Deia scrunched up _he_r nose. The Lord just blinked and thought that his youngest child was quite superficial sometimes.

The irises in the other eyeballs spasmed and they crashed into each other multiplying their numbers, and the slime rained on them from everywhere, making the vapors fogged their surroundings. Hissing sounds were heard constantly, even from The Lord's Veiled's surface floating above their heads.

"Something like acid, I bet it's lethally poisonous too!" The Lord muttered to Howard. "Isn't it a little odd that they ought to kill us without even identifying who we are first...?"

"Hm, seems like we're not their genuine target here..!" Howard whispered. The Lord tsk-ed staring straight to the boy's unmoving back. While Deia embraced in his hand stared up awestruckly watching how the blue-shimmering surface of the Veiled Spell rippled each time a drip of slime touched it.

"This is like rain, isn't it ?" _She_ asked half-thrilled. The Lord rubbed his chin with the other hand, staring at the melted grounds around them, realizing that _she_ had never seen rain before. "Well, usually the rain wouldn't kill you...!"

"Pffth, I asked Kyllea once how the rain would be like inside, and she called me superfluous! Saying in length what's meant and not meant to be...!"

The Lord snickered, "She's an orthodox..!"

Deia hummed as answer, stared back to Prussian's back, thinking about a lot of things _she_'d never seen that were probably unexceptional things for him. The fact that he didn't seem bothered by the poison-rain could mean many things, _her_ heart squeezed a little when the thoughts of 'the rain that kills you' was natural in his daily life before. The words 'more than hell' popped involuntarily in _her_ mind again, that's what they all phrased about the OWLs' lives to _her_. _What kind of hell were you brought up in...? _

_She_ tightened the grips on the boy's cloak and sleeve. Like triggered, he stretched out his hands to his front, making Deia loose _her_ grip on the sleeve. _She_ made a little noise of surprise and disagreement, but he brushed it off.

As if responding to him, the creatures started to let out screeches simultaneously and launched themselves on them. Two of the Charms at their sides reflexively extended their right hands going to let out destruction Waves, but before they let loose, a reverberating sound wave broke the high pitched screeches from behind the creatures. For a slight moment the creatures were like stopped, suspended in their launch tracks, then suddenly out of nowhere an enormous tail of bones swept them in a single movement.

As the fogged vapors also swept along and cleared somewhat by the wind made by the bones, they could see the creatures that were hidden in the sand had come out and surrounding them like vultures with the look of hunger on their faces. But another sound wave reverberated in the air, this time sounded more like a deep howl, broke them into chaos. They started screeching in panics and turned tails. Quite far behind them a lone beast's skull that was half burried in the sands emerged, followed by the long trail of spinal column bones circled under the sands.

The enormous columns of bones snapped in wide swing like a whip and struck the rest of the creatures, and repeated in a few liquid movements until most of them eliminated. The bones' movements were not very fast, but their massive size was more than enough to cover it. The 'tail' end of the bones was the one thing did most of the work, it swiped and lashed everywhere in flashes.

The humans and Charms stared with wide eyes as the slaughter occured in front of them, half paying attention that the rain of slime-poisons had lessen dramatically almost to nothing. The few remaining eyeballs closed down and dove under the vapors of melted boiling sand.

The huge mass of bones swung again rapidly, throwing a great mass of sands on them.

Deia halfconsciously stepped back once in _her_ father's hand, "NOW it's raining sand..?!" _She_ half-shouted in the reverberating sound wave of howls deffening their ears.

The Lord turned to Howard, "...What is it doing ?!"

"Looks like it's covering the melted area on the sand's surface around us...!!"

"Really ?!" The Lord shouted louder, "Then I think it can stop now if it really doing this in our favor !!"

"Before we have to dig a tunnel to get out from here...!!"

The warsteed neighed on its hindlegs.

The Charms blinked.

The boy let his hands down..

The bones stopped, the skull stood high in the air like a snake's head with it's face focused down on them... and he ran towards it.

"Prussian !!!" Deia shouted in horror as the boy's figure missing in the cloudy layers of sands still wafted in the air. Watched fixedly as the skull dove and swalowed his body between its sharp-teethed jaws. The skull lifted its face high again, the sands that were also caught by the jaws poured down from the hollow under its chin. Deia panicked when _she_ saw that the boy didn't fall down from there too.

The whip-like trail of bones closed in on themselves like a snake circling its body. The men noticed immediately that they were actually the vertebral columns of the huge beast. A hysterical scream broke their paralysis.

"...No! Deia !!" The Lord pulled the small girl's arm back, preventing _her_ to run towards the beast of bones. _She_ kept screaming in hysteria trying futilely to pried _her_ father's strong grip from _her_ arm.

The enormous skull slowly came down towards them. It stopped a couple of meters above the grounds and opened its jaws as if in slow motion. Deia stopped _her_ frantic effort and stared with wet eyes, as the jaw lowered little by little. Inside, under the shade of the upper jaw/head, they could see two human's bare feet in a faded olive green loose pants floated in a standing pose, up to the body in deep green long tunic which its ends were longer than his feet with the side-cuts started from his waist's sides, the black hair divided to six braids that were almost as long as the tunic's ends, the hands were folded on a flat chess, and a Prussian who in all the likelyhood was strangling the neck with both his feet on the shoulders.

The men sweatdropped. Deia froze.

The snake-skull covered half of the person's face cocked to the side, 'seeing' them.

"You're with him...?" the man asked them without any greetings. His words was slow and strangely overlaid with sounds like of many whispers, and talked by moving his lips only without opening his jaws. He was about the age of early twenties and his body was was of slim built,you could say almost feminine, but his air was heavy and sharp like a blade, it spoke of a very long time spent in dangerous grounds –or in the OWLs' case, undergrounds- as a predator.

"You better be, because if not, you'll be joining them...!" he continued flatly. Pointing the parts of the slain creatures that buried by the sands with a flick of his head and snake-skull.

"You swapped pack again...? You're pretty easy selling yourself !" the snake-skull turned forward again facing the boy's face so close to his visible half-face.

Deia made a sound of protest, _she_ stared the hollowed snake-skull's eye-sockets with anger.

The snake-skull cocked again a little, 'staring' down at _her_. His lips smirked profanely in comprehension. "Ah, new 'buyer'..? 'cuse my mouth's words..." He leered showing his long six-fangs –four upper fangs, and two lowers- wetted by saliva. Then purred, "It's really poisonous, you know...!"

Deia's face showed a little revulsion. Prussian made a small low growl, his whole body trembled with his effort of strangling the man that seemed like only a waste of energy. The man closed his jaws for a moment, still with a leering lips, and froze as if enjoying the boy's another longer and more frustrated growl, then wetted his upper lip slowly. His tongue was a greenish-black colour, longer and slimmer than the common human's.

Then he snapped his head back to the boy, "Stop that!! You're still not strong enough to hurt me..!" Prussian froze instantly. They stared at each other's face in a long time.

"How much damage you suffered..?" the man asked flatly. That made Prussian awakened, he shoved the man with his fours, but as he stood solid like a brick wall, it was prussian's body that bounched backward. He landed lightly on the beast's lower jaw, both feet on two of its pointed sharp teeth. Gave a good glare to the man, then climbed up the beast's skull and disappear in one of its cavernous eye-sockets.

The man snorted. Sharp rattler's sound was heard, a big skull-less snake skeleton with two rattle-tails slithered down from the beast skull's hole where the spinal cord were supposed to be attached to its brain. It circled and rubbed its long mass to the man's body like a cat fawning its master and the upper part of the ribs opened out behind his back like fingers unfurled as if going to embrace him, attaching itself to the snake-skull on the man's head.

Howard lifted his brows. The strange-OWL's figure in front of them reminded him of a mythical-creature's form he once read in a book of old-era, or was it an old-era creature that was believed as mythical nowadays...? A round spiky-haired object almost hit him on the head, it landed a few steps behind him. He flickered back, and finding that it was a dry coconut 'head'. He sweatdropped sighing to himself.

A crash, some clangs of metal, another coconut landed near his feet, A rotten disfigured hand almost hit Odin on the face, another crash, somemore trashes flew on the air, a louder crash and a slimy liquid leaked out from the beast's eye socket that looked like mucus dripped down to the sands. _Thankfully NOT from the nose...!_ The Lord thought. Behind him Howard cleared his throat directed to him.

The man let out a long hiss. "What're you looking for?! Don't mess my space, it's already chaotic in there..!!"

_...You shouldn't collect trash..!_

"I don't, they huddled on around me..!!"

A humanoid skeleton remains landed besides the Charms on their left, he stared at it noticing it resembled a bug. Deia stared at it for a moment until The Lord's hand turned _her_ head back from the smelly thing.

"Hu, you met my janitor..!" the man looked down at it with indifference, and shrugged. He opened his left palm up, several long blackthings uncoiled from his arm's veins and dove to the sands under the shade, one of them slithered to the skull's eye socket with its 'tail' still attached to the man's arm. A multiple of crashes sounded, and from the eye socket the black 'snake' pulled out Prussian's right ankle backward. Deia gasped as he scratched along the beast's skull muzzle-bone trying to stop. The thing only stopped when his hands not touching the skull anymore, his small body dangling in the air by his right foot suspended.

The man floated forward without leaving the beast's skull shade, "What ?!" he asked low to the boy's face. Prussian swung his right hand to scratch his face. He got a firm hit, but it only left reddened lines on his cheek that disappeared in notime. In a flash, the man grabbed his head with both hands and roared, showing his teeth, and bent his neck as if going to bite him.

Deia lunged _her_self reflexively but _her_ father's hands pulled _her_ back.

"What ?!" he asked again, pulling the boy's head forward it bended his dangling body like an 'L'.

Deia gritted _her_ teeth. "_...Mother's sight..!!_" _she_ hissed out. The Lord flicked his head to _her_.

The man shut his mouth with a flat face, scrutinizing the boy's defiant eyes on him. He roared again, this time opening his jaws with the four tusk-like teeth/bones spread his cheeks open wide from the insides of his mouth.

Deia gasped in shock, he could swallow _her_ Prussian's head as easily with his beast-mouth, and _she_ let out an involuntarily yelp.

Prussian didn't react, still staring at him with defiance. The man closed his jaws and leered widely. "You have no mother..! By the way, it was partly my fault for my poor metaphor about mothers and skies !"

"_Fuck you..!_" Deia hissed again. The men around _her_ snapped their heads at _her_ hearing the profanity.

The man chuckled and let the boy's head go. Floated back and dropped his body backward half reclining lazily on the snake-skeleton behind his back that curled acting as his seat under his floating body, and continued to chuckle like crazy.

After a long moment he stopped suddenly. "If you let your minds leak out like that, more low-lives would bug you..!!" he said flatly. As if on cue, several shreeks heard from far away, some were muffled like covered by something that were most likely the sands. He didn't say another word until the last whining screeches died down.

Odin tightened his grip on his talisman-sword's hilt. This OWL's a nightmare! With Voidscraft abbility and no penitence! He searched his mind, _something about the One who will come to get you-...!_ He felt he'd heard about this OWL before, but it's too foggy right now...

The man loosened something from behind his nape. He stretched his hand out and let the thing dangled from between his fingers. It was a silvery thread with a crystal pendant that shaped like a small column at one of its ends. The crystal was black but clearly transparent, inside it several bluish-silver speck of lights moved incessantly in their orbits making a pattern. Prussian stopped pricking the black 'snake' from his ankle, and widened his eyes. He tried to lunge forward scratching at the beast skull's palate as his solidground, but it's futile.

The man chuckled again and stood up, dangling the crystal in front of the boy's half-covered face. When he snatched it, the black 'snake' dropped him, and before he managed to fix his position in the air, the man's hand grabbed him and flung his body to the skull's teeth and brought down one foot to his chess and neck violently, keeping his neck trapped between two sharp teeth. His temple got quite a cut, and started to bleed.

The men moved by his belligerence and stepped forward.

"_I'm NOT your SPECIMEN...!!_" Deia spat the hiss out disgustedly. The man just smirked.

"...Really ?"

The word specimen hinted Odin immediately. "You're The Collector..!" he said wideeyed. Wasn't he supposed to be only an OWL's legend to scare children off...?!

The man turned his head to them, "You know me? ...We've never met before, because you would've been in there or joined those rotten dregs..!" he flicked his head pointing the beast skull's brain cavity and the direction where the creatures' screeches had died down earlier.

"Ah, talking about specimen, you just reminded me about that one, the pack-leader of your ex-wolfpack..!!" Prussian made a low growl at that. "Yessss, he'd likely worthy enough to be in my collection, don't you think...?!" The growling got louder and angrier. The man snickered, "You certainly have good eyes for collecting..!"

That did it for the boy, knowing what implied in those words. _Like he'd let him ever laid a finger on his Human..!!_ He flung the pendant crystal down, and using both hands to scratch the foot planted on his chest. The black 'snake' caught both his hands before he managed to touch the man's pant-leg, and pulled them tightly above his head.

Deia caught the pendant flying towards _her_, the crystal felt warm in _her_ hands. _She_ snapped _her_ head back to _her_ Prussian. The Charms including Howard accelerated their Wave, but Odin stretched his hand signaling them to stop. The Lord gritted his teeth.

"What, can't bite this time..? Learn something new, then !" The man bent forward and brushed his face slowly, Prussian flicked his head in abhorrence and anger. The Collector brought his smeared-with-blood fingers to his mouth and licked them clean, making a fully delighted face. "...sweets..!" he hissed out. Then flung the small boy down, he landed on fours relexively.

Deia plunged forward and pulled him back without even thinking to where _her_ father waiting.

"He's _mine_ ! But if you insist, I'll let you borrow him for the time being...!" The Collector said smugly looking down at them.

"Don't!! He can capture you and steal your ability! Better be safe as not one of his target..!" Odin whispered low, knowing the Charms could hear him.

The Collector snickered and dropped his body backward again. Reclining leissurely with one leg on the other, his fingers interlaced on his stomach. The rattler-tails sounded as if mocking them.

"Free advice...!" He said loudly. Deia felt Prussian froze in _her_ arms. "Don't let him use his Voice, it'll get a whole kingdom annihilated...!!"

Prussian trembled, and Deia pulled him close, glaring with full ferocity at the OWL.

"He's A _Mourn_-child...!!" The OWL singsonged loudly.

"So what..?!" Deia hissed with hatred.

"You don't know...?" he asked dramatically. "A Mourn-child have Siren's Voice !! Faaaarr greater than a Siren's-.."

"_I'm not your weapon..!!_" Deia barked, in _her_ arms Prussian burned his fiery eyes at him.

The Collector stopped mid-sentence and back to his flat expression. "No, you're one of my collection...!" he said calmly. Prussian growled loudly at that admition. "Hehe...You liked it being with me before I told you what you are to me...!!"

"I'm more civil compared to those low-lives...!" he said as if to himself. Suddenly the other black 'snakes' he let loose bursted out of the sands under him, which shaded by the beast skull's shaddow, and return to his arm, coiling to his veins. He snorted and without saying anything else, the beast skull's jaws closed and dove into the sands. The ground's surface shook a little as the enormous thing disappeared under it.

Deia let out a breath slowly, feeling Prussian's rigid body melted eventually in _her_ arms.

"... They're the ones who's 'here'...?" _she_ muttered, already knowing what the answer would be.

"Phew..! Seems like you have quite a flock of fans..!!" Howard laughed dryly.

"How-ward..!! **_I_** mind !!" Deia pouted angrily.

---------------

The journey back to the Castile was quiet. Prussian was literally attached to Deia the whole time on the back of one of Howard's summon-beast. He seemed like frightened and didn't dare to see the other humans' eyes even once, only hiding his face on His Human's shoulder and curled as small as he could.

Deia noticed it started after the OWL's words about the Mourn-child.

_Weapon ! They used him like that ?! And when he refused they tortured him...?!_

_Her_ heart squeezed painfully, _she_ felt like wanting to know the boy's past and not wanting to know at the same time. _She_ kissed the temple lightly , brushed _her_ cheek on the brown-haired head a few times. Then looked up to _her_ father's face behind _her_. The Lord held the reins with both hands, using them as the safeguard for the children seating in front of him at the same time. He felt _her_ stare on him and stared back, then smiled. He's not very good at this, his late wife was the one always more mature even for his sakes. Deia smiled back, despite the deep concern written on _her_ childish face.

Prussian was halfconscious when they arrived at the Castile. Deia didn't get panic, however. _She_ said that he was just dead-tired and needing sleep, as if knowing everything about him. The men only exchanged glances at that. He slept for almost the full two weeks without any significance. Deia continued _her_ life's routines just as before Prussian was there, with only _her_ spare times spent in his company. The adults were worried about _her_ dependency to him before, but seeing that _she_ could continue _her_ life in the normal rythm, they let one worry go. Somehow they knew that _she_'d realized it too that if _she_ got more attached to him in the unusual way, they'd be separated by one way or another, sooner or later. The incident with the power _she_ had released blindedly was more than enough to teach _her_ the lesson. _She_ almost lost _her_ Prussian twice, in physical and in soul, so _she_ wouldn't want to repeat that again. _She_ knew _she_ had to be stronger for _her_ Prussian's sakes too, strong people make their lives, not being caried away by fates or curses. _She_ had to be stronger so that _she_ could share _her_ life with the dying boy, so he could survive when he lost his. Deep in _her_ heart _she_ knew that that was the only thing _she_ could do to help him, that there was no cure for his illness, that it wasn't an illness to begin with.

Lyea who went back with Kyllea to the Castile before them from the Forest that day somehow looked more gloomy when she thought noone was watching. Deia knew it, though, from the way her eyes less shining even when she smiled or laughed, the worries hidden in her eyes when she looked at _her_ secretly.

She spent more times in the underground libraries, searching for what, _she_ didn't know, nor care to ask. Lyea's unspoken language always told _her_ to brush it off, to not worry about her worries. Deia had to let her go, though. Kyllea always tailing her 24-hours a day. Since the time when she tried to assault _her_ with her unknown power, Deia always felt a bit alarmed around her pressence.

The Charms had put the Castile back together in about 10 days. Deia got strict prohibitions for using _her_ Harmony after that, not before _she_ could proven _her_ control over _her_ power. But something's moving behind _her_, looming around in the invisibles taunting _her_ awareness with harmful intentions towards _her_ and _her_ Prussian.

_Her _Spell was always restless in _her_ sanctuary.

Prussian woken up on the 12th day, Deia was waiting by his side as if knowing it's the time for him to wake up. _She_ greeted him with a smile, brushed his half-covered face gently with _her_ hand. When the black-armor responded to _her_ touch and retracted to the craft-plate back, leaving his whole face visible again, _she_ instinctively bent forward and covered his mouth with _her_s. Letting him breathe through _her_, feeling they were of a complete cycle and not needing anything else in the world to be alive.

A metalic clang heard, and Lyea tried to balance back the tray in her hands. The sounds she made broke Prussian's trance eventually, and he stared at her with a serene look in his eyes. He moved his chin a little, indicating that they could stop for now. Deia dreamily came back to _her_ awareness, still centering _her_ senses to him.

"What..?" _she_ smiled, whispering the word in the gentlest voice, fingers brushing the bangs out of his face.

Lyea flushed, and cleared her throat. She tried a few times, and found her voice back.

"Deia-Saraleighsthē Cyrianthea Martelé-Luna...!!" She admonished _her_ with the most authoritarian tone she could muster. Deia froze instantly. _She_'s in deep trouble when Lyea started to say _her_ fullname like that, a defiant thoughts popped up in _her_ mind that THAT was the _superfluous_ thing, _her_ fullname, not the curiousity of only wanting to see RAIN. _She_ knew Kyllea was standing outside _her_ door. _She_ turned _her_ head slowly to Lyea and gave a nervous grin.

Lyea sighed. "If wrong kind of people see THAT...!!" She pursed her lips, and frowned. "... Well, let's just say that you shouldn't do that in the pressence of other people, okay...?!" She sighed deeper, remembering how their father's face when _she_ first did that in the Forest. If she were a bit of Deia-ish, she'd laughed maniacally back then.

"... 'That' what...?" Deia seemed not getting any comprehension. Lyea frowned deeper, her cheeks flushed again.

Deia stared her a little longer, then it hit _her_. "Oh!! That... you mean...!" _She_ frowned back. "But we just share...!" _she_ scratched _her_ cheek with _her_ forefinger.

"Prussian needs a share..!!" _she_ added seriously.

Lyea closed her eyes and snorted to herself. "You're still too childish to know about what I'm saying...!" she muttered under her breath.

"Hu...?"

"...Nothing..!"

Lyea put the tray on the nightstand on Deia's side. She sat on the bed behind Deia, noticing the boy's face already half-covered by the black-armor again, his eyes on her. She smiled. "I think you need to retract that armor to eat...! _She_ had made a _good_ effort to make some food for you !" she flicked her chin to her _sister_.

Deia widened _her_ eyes, _her_ face flushed a little. "I told you not to mention that...!" _she_ whispered frantically through gritted teeth. Prussian's eyes turned to _her_.

"Why not ?! Prussian will relish it more since it was your making..!"

Deia stared at _her_ lap, "...if it's not to your appetite..." _she_ mumbled almost incoherently.

"I'm sure it tastes good, considering the prize paid for it... you blew the kitchen again, but you shouldn't worry because half of it was usualy not used, anyway!" Lyea chuckled.

Deia turned redder. "Lyeaaaaa...!" _she_ groused.

"Ahh, you should see how high the kitchenwares were blown, the guards outside even betted on which to fall first on the grounds, or wether something would hit someone when they land...!!" Lyea's laugh brayed out after that.

"AAAAAGHHHH!!! I TOLD YOU DONT MENTION **_THAAAT_**...!!!!" Deia flapped _her_ hands frantically like a hen in panic, then grabbed a pillow and shove _her_ face in it kind of like what the ostrichs used to do in dangers.

Prussian's eyes lit up under his drooped eyelids. Deia pulled _her_ head up, "You're laughing, aren't you?!! You aaare...!!!" _She_ exclaimed. Then shoved _her_ face back in the pillow.

"So are you going to feed him with the (in)famous-Deia's cookings, or not...?!" Lyea asked between laughs.

"Oh, shut up...!!" Deia's retort was mumbled by the pillow. There was smoke wafted from it, something smell of burning...

---------------

_It was something that he couldn't escape. He already knew it from the beginning he set his foot on this land._

The Lord's words didn't really entered his mind at the moment.

He stared at his neatly interlaced fingers on his lap.

_The Air was closing in on him._

Deia was not here with him... _She_ had a session with 'Thrice', _she_ wouldn't miss it even for a second, 'Thrice' was someone who never teach someone else, not even spare a comment for someone else. It was a priveledge for _her_, _she_ accepted it without a second thought...

_The Air was closing in on him... It was something he couldn't escape..._

Deia was not here... _She_ said _she_ wanted to be stronger for both of them...

_...something... someone he couldn't escape..._

"... -nd he will be your private attendant from now on, ..-"

_...the Air was closing in..._

"...-including your education such as -..."

He stared trancely at the red-haired young man standing beside his bed...

_... the Land was closing in..._

"...-your health back...-" The Lord's voice sounded farther and farther...

Kylle smiled sweetly at him, his angelic smile he'd seen before...

_...he's closing in... _

... it was as if the rain of poisons looming over him, ready to pour down and banish him any moment...

He stared...

---------------

_...it's going to rain... _

---------------

---------------

tbc...still

sorry for the slow plot, Saru think graphicly like in comics-sequence, not the prose-sequence (that's why making the comic-script was a torture!! ►the _improvise-ism_ comic-artist who always got scolded by the editors...). Some said something nice about the details, but Saru know it got kinda boring when you're wanting to read more and make the plot faster. Yes, Saru wrote something about this chapter would be the last of the present timeline in the previous chapter, it's gotten a bit longer so Saru add one more. Please bear with bakaSaru a bit more...! nn"


	12. drenched

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku march 15, 2007 **

warning : this chapter contains some pedophilish issues, if you don't like it just skip the parts.

**# 12 Drenched**

_though we're not facing each other_

_perhaps we're drenched by the same rain_

_I pray you're not alone in the cold_

_may you have shelter for your heart_

"Lyea...!" Deia stuck out _her_ head from the slightly ajar door of the underground library. _Her_ sister raised her head to see _her_, then lowered it down to the book she'd been reading. Deia walked towards her and stopped at the side of the desk. _She_ took out the rolled paper from _her_ dress pocket and held it open with both hands near Lyea's face.

Lyea glanced at the scribble of ink on the paper, "What is it ?"

"What d'you think...?!" Deia's eyes had an expectant light shining in _her_ purple orbs. _She_ lifted both brows impatiently.

Lyea stared at the paper again, frowning. "What do you think it should be...?" It's just some signs or abstracts...?! Whichever, the scribbles didn't mean anything to her.

"Well, How-ward said about flower or quicksand! Old-din mentioned something about tattoo design of some extinct-tribe's for cattles ownership...it's sounded like a long story so I skipped. Father said something about whirlwind or fountain...!" _she_ pouted a little.

Lyea blinked, she didn't know what _she_ was talking about, where this conversation leading to, so decided to play it safely and let Deia answer for _her_self. "Not related to any of those, right..?"

"Way off !!" _She_ opened _her_ mouth, but closed it again frustratedly. "It doesn't really mean anything to you...?! Anything at all ?!"

Blinked. That's far safer than any comment now.

Deia let out a long breath. _She_ frowned back, "...It should be 'YUY', right...?!"

Another blink. That was out of reflex. "...'yuy'...?"

"Yes! It's almost written like this :...--" Deia took a pencil and a little pocket-book _she_ always kept in there. Actually, _she_ kept them and other things in _her_ sanctuary, but since _she_ was 'supposed' to be not one of the Harmony users, _she_ disguised it in _her_ pocket. Noone's ever really asked what was in _her_ pocket, anyway, or the ammount of things _she_ kept in there, or how big they were.

_She_ scribbled something of three signs, reshaped them in another set of signs, and repeated the phase for four more times. Lyea stared at the evoluted-signs, now that _she_ had 'translated' them, it _almost_looked like legible characters.

Ŷ ǚ ý

She frowned again. "Okay, that you could say, a 'YUY'...so, what is it ?"

Deia beamed, "It's Prussian's..!!"

"Prussian's...--?"

"Name! It's his name!!" _She_ glowed with full power, lived up to the calling The Light of Archantra to the fullest. "He told me to say it in whatever way I could read of it..!" sighing satisfiedly of _her_self, and put back the things to _her_ pocket.

"Then..." Lyea flicked her eyes at the ceiling, "It's possible that he pronounced it differently in his langu--..." Blinked. Deia stared. "...It's deffinitely 'YUY'...!!" She smiled her political smile, safe is safe..!

"Hm!!" Deia nodded assuredly to _her_self. "What're you searching... about immortals...!" _She_ glanced at the bookracks of the library, this section contains of books about immortal-creatures. Behind that were about the Spirits, behind that were about Shaddows. Behind that were about- - ...Blinked. That's safer than thinking !

"Nothing important, just something out of my curiousity...!" Lyea said with her eyes on the book she's reading. Deia sideglanced at her, knowing full well of her unspoken language.

"Something about Prussian I should know about..?" _she_ asked looking at the bookracks far behind. It's because Lyea didn't see the OWL, that _Collector_..!! Because of what had happened in the Forest, that was the only significant event she witnessed, was about Prussian dying. The immense power let loose in there was similar to the blackness _she_ blasted in the Castile, _she_ knew it by instinct.

"'_Pre-Dark Era_'... the '_History of Fairs_' section, others related to the '_Deminuere War_'-'_The Eclipse of Dark-Era Revolution_'...!" Lyea said indifferently.

Deia walked to the bookracks, and took out the old book titled 'Pre-Dark Era', there were already several bookmarker threads sticking out of it. Deia randomly touched one of them, the book opened its pages by itself. The page showed was of the ancient writings about some ancient-creatures who dominated the sphere before humankinds. _She_ brushed the tag of light-lamina tied by the bookmarker thread lied on the book's page, the shining translated note in Lyea's writings cameforth on its surface.

"..._the creatures of souls, who in time known as the ancestors of the Spirits, e.g. the Fairs, and the Immortals that diversed into Wilds of Pre-Dark Era which believed to be extinct or had amalgamated into the sphere's natures, (note: e.g. the Spell known in this Land)_..." _She_ frowned, and put the book back. The figure of the Solo-beast surfaced _her_ minds, _she_ brush it off.

"History of Fairs..!" _she_ murmured. A thread in another old book shone. _She_ picked it, and read the page it marked.

"..._said as the ritual to bond two souls to amalgamate into one, which in all eternity could never be separated... and never be extinguished, as the always be, and the one never altered_..."

"...Shouldn't you'd have all the time in the world to be the most of the mosts, when you're an immortal...?!" _She_ muttered to _her_self, and moved to the next book.

"..._extinguished in the war later called as the Deminuere War._..-I thought you were to become immortals ..?!- _...the survivors degraded their existence into spirit-elements, some are dissolved into other beings of natures e.g. trees, waters, soils,..._"

Then the next.

"..._the cataclysmic Eclipse of Dark-Era, which in the end had given the revolution for humankind to emerge,... to make the soulbondeds separated_..-I thought it's said soulbond was insaparable..?!- ..._to search in all eternity for their halves, and to not finding them in all existence,... to always be only halve, and yearning for completion,_...-this is a too nasty curse, isn't it?- ..._and as immortals of souls, should always be reborn in spirit and flesh by mourns,_..-in mortal bodies..?! Kind of like humans, you mean, to be born in the mother's cries of pains !- ..._and to inchoately die, and be full of life and death; as the Eclipse itself be void_." Deia blinked.

Okay, so the Eclipse was actually a 'someone' if it could be that full of hatred, right ? Not necessarily meant the real eclipse, right ?

..._as immortals of souls, should always be reborn in spirit and flesh by mo_... "By Mourns...?!"

Mourn-child !!

_She_ widened _her_ eyes.

..._to die, and full of life and death,_ ..means to always dying ?!

..._to always only be halve, and yearning for completion_... That's why Prussian needs a share..?!

..._to search in all eternity for their halves_...

The old book dropped to the floor as Deia's numb hands lost their strength and slumped to _her_ sides.

Prussian wants someone's soul...not _her_! Not _her_ soul! He needs someone else's soul... he's already someone else's soulbonded...!!

... _never be altered_...

_Her_ eyes darkened.

"...Lyea..!" _she_ called calmy. Almost too calm.

"Yes ?"

"Do you have anything about Mourn...? I think it's related to Fairs or such...!"

"... Not that I know of !"

"Oh, ...fine..." _she_ picked the fallen book, and put it back to its place. Then walked back to Lyea's side, who didn't dare lift her head to face _her_ again. Anyway, it's not really proven to be true yet, right? She didn't really have to feel guilty about the boy's circumstances and all...

Deia bent forward and popped _her_ face close in front of hers, _she_ smiled like nothing bad ever happen, with a jovial light in _her_ eyes. "It's set, then !!" _she_ said assuredly.

"...Wha'...?"

"Prussian's oficial name would be 'Yuy' from now on, and that way only I to be the one calling him Prussian...!!"

Lyea blinked.

"Sooo,... I guess I have to tell everyone about it !" _she_ straightened. "Ah, I think we could make an introduction ceremony for him when he gets well enough! What d'you think?!" Then laughed to _her_self. Then fled in a blur of beaming white.

---------------

The walls in the east-wing were mostly broken and covered by climbing-plants. Still, whether they're growing leafs or dry leafs, they're still white...! The statues were white! The pillars and columns were white! Even the dirts blown in by the wind and massed on the rock-tiles were white...! It's the same colours everywhere you set your eyes on.

Deia ran as fast as _she_ could, knowing noone would see _her_ in that part of palace. The east-wing was once reserved for _her_ mother, and to left it untouched was part of her last wishes before she died. Saying that there will be new lives grow in that place if people don't bother to keep it to her dead-memories.

It was the other way of saying that she gave her life for _her_, and that noone were to kill _her_ since she had paid forth the right for _her_ to live.

The Lady paid two lives for Deia's life.

_She_ got to the big fountain in the corner garden, and jumped in. Stayed in the bottom hugging _her_ knees, and cried _her_ heart out. The remaining pieces of which _she_ managed to save for _her_self, from which _she_ still could call _her_self a human being. _She_ cried all of them out...

_...as the Eclipse itself be void..._

---------------

Deia was back to _her_ chamber dripping wet. _She_ said _she_'d fallen in the fountain, and thinking that it wasn't a bad day for a swim, _she_ swam.

Prussian was in his room with Kylle reading some storybook to him. It was originally the small livingroom/study in _her_ chamber which _she_ never put in good use before. _She_ had to surrender to not having the boy in _her_ bed anymore, even though at night _she_ felt like the nightmares looming in, ready to barge in the moment _she_ fall asleep.

It was only the third day of having him separated by a mere wall, to say it out front...but felt like a few eternities instead.

---------------

His Human seldomly spoke to him, nowadays. Human took more time with 'Thrice' now. It's been a week.

From the tower, he saw them chatting on the prairy behind the Castile, sitting on the Fine-grass. Only talking and killing time, it seemed. 'Thrice' was famous for his straight no-nonsense don't-waste-my-time-if-you-don't-have-bussiness-with-me attitude, but from the looks of it, his Human's natural charms were grater than any charm the Charms possessed. They're not really having a great-session-time, as Human always phrased it before. Kylle took him there, said something about nice breeze and views, or anything, he never really paid attention to him. It was not him he should be mindful of, this nice and brotherly human-Kylle...

It was the spirit-Kylle always leering behind him and whispering disconcerting words to his ears, so close that sometimes he was on his knees, embracing him from behind and breathing in his ear, even licking or nipping at it just to make him felt abused. Although that he'd experienced being abused in far brutal ways, it still felt crushing him, this insecurity. And it wasn't a nice embrace, either. It was one way of showing him that he couldn't escape his pressence. The spirit-Kylle always harassing him in one way or another. That was the advantage of being invisible in everyone else's eyes.

..._the Land was closing in_...

The human-Kylle tended him nicely, too nice in fact. Perhaps he separated himself into two halves, the spirit-Kylle was his evil halve, may be...

..._he's closing in_...

The human-Kylle was humming a nice song, sitting on the edge of the tower window, his hands were bussy with small carvings. Sometimes he looked back at him, seating on the wooden bench, covered with blankets. A basket of foods at his side, not that he had much appetite. He wanted his Human back. Why did Human leave him behind? Because Human tired waiting him to get improved...? He's well enough to give a few adults a good fight..!!

A feathery hand brushed his side face from behind. A low purring sound almost like a growl...

..._he's closing in_...

((...Deity,...))

A few kisses on his head.

((...I want to play..., let the Little Deity out, pleeease..?)) the spirit-Kylle begged childishly, although he couldn't see his face behind him, nor he wanted to.

A long wet lick from his black-covered neck to his left ear.

((..Pleeassse...?? I'm bored toying with you...!!)) nipping at his left hand he'd pulled from under the blanket. He felt him smirked on his skin, and started sucking the pulse on his wrist.

The boy just sat still, knowing he'd be bolder if he ever react to his intimidation.

((...Oww, come on..!! My-_not-sister_-half told me to guard you all the time, and this is more boring than sleeping in the Underspace...!!)) the spirit-Kylle moved around him, and half crouching on his knees in front of him, putting his chin on the boy's lap. Making puppy expression. ((...pleeeassssse..???))

The human-Kylle stopped his humming, and looked back, showed a small comical-cat whittle in his hand. The boy just stared. He smiled and took another bar of wood from his side, and started humming another song, carving another whittle.

The feathery fingers brushed the black-armor once, on where his lips should be. As like yesterday, the armor slid open to the sides, leaving a thin layer of armor-halfface like a second skin on his face.

(( IT doesn't hate me, right...?! )) the spirit-Kylle whispered, talking about the blackthing of the craft-plate.

No, IT's not... The thing responded to his touch as well as IT responded to His Human's touch. Only IT never fully open to him, of that the boy felt most grateful.

The spirit-Kylle looked tranced for a moment, and stretched his neck forward, started kissing his black-covered lips in a slow lazy rythm. He did it for a long time yesterday, the first time he sorted to get physical towards him. It wasn't really him the spirit-Kylle was kissing, it was the craft-plate, the blackthing covering his face. He knew it that the entity was obsessed with it. So he just let him be. Sometimes the spirit-Kylle told him something worthy-known, anyway.

((...They don't need a male heir...!))

As if knowing his train of thoughts, the entity whispered in his ear.

((...There's this prophecy saying that a boy of the Castile will destroy the whole Land...! So they wanted to play it safe, I guess, and made me kill every male heir of the Castile!)) he purred, a hand was holding firmly the boy's head from behind. The entity gave him a lascivious stare, his tongue was licking his black-covered lips.

((...I killed every one of them in their mother's bellies...!)) he put his knees on each side of the boy's tighs, and held his small body in strong but not tight embrace. One of his hand played the boy's brown locks behind his head. He stilled like that in a long time, indulging in the inconsequential of the passing of Time.

((...don't you want me to kill you too...?)) his whisper sounded airy and lost, it almost heard like a breeze.

The boy kept staring the teenager-Charms and a small human-girl far down on the prairy. Everything was white, so he could loose their sight anytime.

In his heart of heart, he knew the entity holding him was suffering too.

...weren't they meant to suffer for all eternity...? For the members of a should-be eliminated community, to survive alone was a crime.

((...I'll kill you too...)) the spirit-Kylle smiled giving a kiss on his head fondly, as if saying words of love...may be it was the words of mercy.

The boy drooped his eyes, feeling them tired of staring so far away, trying to read their lips. He saw 'Thrice''s red-shining eye on his direction once. He knew it since the first time seeing him that the teenager-Charms was different from the others.

The wind blew gently, the human-Kylle's song made him sleepy. The feathery embrace of the spirit-Kylle felt nice for once, for this time. He closed his eyes, letting sleep claimed his insecure minds.

It's not raining...

..._why was his Human leaving him behind...?_

Felt like falling.

---------------

He stood in one of the far corner near the windows, face straight to the black wooden doors, ...waiting. That was all he could do these times, waiting his Human to come through those doors. For his Human's ignorant pressence or his Human's words of abandonment he couldn't care less, just as long as the waiting ends, it hurts more when you have to suspend your live while the world didn't stop spinning around you, just as the insignificant time didn't stop ticking away. Might as well just ignore that you were exist...

((...feeling a little too lonely...?))

The airy voice too close from behind his ears pricked his heart, he could live with that... but he couldn't live without his Human.

((...I'm here... Mother's _here_...watching over you...))

Not my mother, he wanted to retort, but he was too tired of feeling empty, waiting his Human to fill him with his Human's emptyness sounded good enough. He missed that black-emptyness he felt when he first met his Human's eyes. It felt like stopping. Stop falling, or just stop living, may be stop existing...stop suffering.

His black-glazed eyes frozen a little more.

The spirit-Kylle's hands encircled his small body from behind, he'd been using him like a teddy bear for most of the time, slowly rubbing his cheek to his head, his red-windy-tunnels of eyes burned to the closed black doors unflinchingly.

((...Human got a new toy..., with four small horns on _it_s head... Human likes horns...!)) he whispered.

The boy ignored him. _...Human likes chimeras..._

((...better watch your Human's back... this Land will kill Human just like the other male heirs...!)) he continued, feathery lips brushed the boy's ear when he spoke.

After a moment of ignoring him still, the boy's eyes sideglanced at the spirit's eyes. That was as if inviting him to advance, and the entity took it unashamedly. The feathery hand cupped his other side of face, his tongue lick-trailed from his ear to his lips, the other hand brushed the armor to slide open and grabbed the smaller waist flat to his smoky-body, then he hungrily kissed his black-covered lips again, closing his red-eyes and enjoying the conquest.

The boy stilled and flicked his eyes back to the doors through the entity's head, his whole body tingled and a hot freezing awareness running up his spines, alarming his tired mind. He ignored it.

_...when..? _

His mind-question caught the spirit frozen at what he's doing. Ever so slowly the hand encircling his waist unfurled, but moving his head back from the boy's face took somemore times. The spirit's face was a mask, his eyes were two tunnels of winding-red-smokes, sucking the boy's awareness to them.

((...why...?))

_...isn't it what you want...? To make me take action so that you could 'counteract' me...?! _

The spirit-Kylle frowned a little, he dropped his spirit body to squat in front of him, hands folded on his knees.

((...you took the bait just like that...?)) a slight disappointment tinged his voice, as if regreting his game ended in just a short time.

A knock sounded at the doors. Deia wouldn't knock.

They silenced, human-Kylle entered the chamber with a fond smile on his face, more books in his hands.

"We'll learn about The Charms, now..." put the books on the wooden table, eyes never leaving the standing boy.

The boy's brows lifted up a little.

He laughed a little. "You're _allergics_ to Charms' Harmony, so you wouldn't want to get a Wave hit, would you...?"

The boy blinked reflexively.

"We'll learn something to avoid that, although the Air is unavoidable catalyst for Harmony, but the Wave is not an unvoidable in length...you just have to know where to run!"

The boy stared at him with uncertainty. Where's this leading to? He wanted him to oppose those Charms?

"You could show the tricks you're going to learn to a few of them..." he said implying without sounding like it. " Don't you feel bored being kept as a chamber's adornment...?!" his smile never leaving his face.

The boy's brows shot up, a little flush coloured his cheeks.

"Please, we'll learn the teories of Harmony first...!" he patted the chair next to the wooden table.

The boy stared at it, then slowly stepped around the spirit-Kylle to it, and sat quietly.

---------------

The wind carried the sounds of metal clangs and shouts. A man's barks heard every now and then, it was Commander Crüdeo's voice, one of Odin's leading man, training the soldiers on the Stone-field. The Captain was at the alleviated outer sides of the training field, watching the practice. Some other soldiers standing in the lines, circling the round field waiting for their turns. The Captain's eyes glanced at him ocassionally.

'Thrice' stared unflinchingly, with one red-shining eye hidden under his long white bangs half covering the bandage-like cloth obscuring his third eye on his forehead. The smell of Fine-grass and sounds of Cotton-winds(1) filled the Air, giving a pleasant calmness to the teenager-Charms sitting on the tree far outside the soldier's territory. He knew mere humans felt overwhelmed with his presence, even from afar. He had a great presence, and sometimes he didn't care to hide it. He's used to that kind of uneasy stares directed at him, so he kept watching the humans' activity, anyway. It's one way of killing time when he didn't have other things to do.

­Crüdeo tried to kill him openly once, on that field. He used to treat the humans passingly, and seemed like the man got a little too fed up with the Charms' attitude. Still, even with the blade out and challenges shouted in the Air, the teenager bypassed the human like nothing's happening. He had no interest in small uneventual disputes. Anyway, his sword wasn't made to kill the Charms' body. He just stared the man's eyes with his porcelain-mask face ignoring the sword penetrating his body, and said 'I have notime for this!', stepped back to let his body slid off of the sword, and walked his tracks again. The news spread like plague, but Odin overlooked it, he didn't want to see Howard's smug grin about it. The hot-headeds learned their lessons in one or many ways, he was standing in their shoes once.

"What do you want?" the teenager-Charms barely moved his lips.

The boy stared at him, crouching on the tree trunk behind. He didn't answer.

"If you don't have any bussiness with me, go someplace else, I have no interest of babysitting someone else's charge!" he said passingly. The boy blinked.

_...someone else's... _

He didn't hide his presence.., may be because he wanted to be found...

The boy stared his cloaked figure's back for a long time, the atmosphere of another 'beast' calmed him somewhat. The Charms didn't spare him a glance even once. They just kept themselves in silence the whole time.

---------------

"Where have you been...?!"

Prussian stared from the doorway half surprised, half alarmed.

"YOUR attendant was here..!! Where the hell were you ?!"

Oops...there's a curse, there.

Deia folded _her_ hands in front of _her_ chest. "SO...?!" _She_ held _her_ chin high, eyes staring down at the boy.

Slowly closed the door, he kept his eyes to the floor. His Human didn't say anything as _she_ waited his excuse, but Prussian somehow knew that everything he'd say will be wrong anyway. He stood in silence.

"FINE..!!" A loud slam of the bathroom doors rattled the window glass, the tallest of the three crystal decanters on the shelf tumbled from its pedestal and spilled the colourful crystal-beads in it all over the floor. Prussian stared as the small things made a rapid tinkling sounds as they ricocheted to every directions. Several small beads reached his feet and bounced back, he flicked the one in front of his leftfoot with his bare sharp-nailed toe. The one-bead hit another one with a deepblue colour, it glinted when it rolled over in contrast with his darkened eyes.

The sounds of his heart hit the floor.

...Something felt broken inside.

_... are you angry with me...?_ The slowly spelled mind-question didn't answered despite that he had waited long. He stood frozen in front of the bathroom door resting his forehead on it.

_...you hate me now..._ The mind-whisper sounded so lost in Deia's mind, _she_ snapped open _her_ eyes. _Her_ stubborn egoistic-mind countered that the boy was talking about the superficial matter and nothing more. Damn well _she_ hated him right now, with his innocent acts and expression, how could he made _her_ waited for him in _her_ chamber? When _she_ left him there, then he should be IN THERE when _she_ came back to see him THERE...!!

Swallowed once, Deia closed _her_ eyes again, _her_ upper body was bended flat on 'the lap' of the warm water's surface with both hands balled on each sides of _her_ head. Ignoring the pain from ignoring the boy, despite his mind was so clear in _her_s.

_...I'm sorry I'm not a good pet..._ His mind-whisper almost didn't reach _her_, but the idea touched _her_ thoughts and as _she_ still couldn't separate _her_ original-thoughts with his, it affected _her_ thinking and made _her_ angrier. The feelings of being betrayed that he would eventually go to find someone else...Even now, _she_'d given him all _her_ spare time and he skipped..?!

Deep in _her_ heart _she_ abhorred _her_self for thinking of him as a pet, a possession. _She's no better than those mercenaries_, that old thoughts came forth again after a long time _she_ tried to assure _her_self that _she_ deserved him, _she_ had fought for him.

..._she_ had fought for him, so why does he prefer someone else...? _Her_ heart wrenched.

Deia gritted _her_ teeth, "...You damn right you're not a good pet...!! What should I do so you stay –_with me_...- in the place I told you to be, put a leash around your neck...?!" _she_ barked through the doors.

Prussian flinched at the harsh words, the human-Kylle's words rang in his head, 'chamber's adornment' and nothing more, his insecure minds withdrew themselves to the dark cavities deep in him which he tried to fill with _her_. His Human left him behind... his black-glazed eyes darkened.

"...Or do you want me to free you-..!!" Deia pushed the door roughly, _she_ frozen in surprise finding Prussian in front of the other panel of the double doors faced down with his forehead resting on it, if _she_ were to open that door instead of the one _she_ opened, _she_ would have slammed him with it. The thoughts of _her_ hurting the boy made _her_ hate _her_self, and for that _she_ blamed him even more. He was the one torturing _her_ with all the worries, and it looked like he was good without _her_, without needing _her_...

Deia slammed the bathroom door and dashed outside through the balcony, didn't want to pass by him. Kylle was standing on the far side of the long terrace near the corridor, he smiled warmly to _her_. _She_ didn't even want to see anyone...!

_Free..._

He was to blame, everytime the same thing happened. It was a self-righteous word for 'the owners' when they wanted to discard him.

The Air felt colder...

The human-Kylle entered silently, tidied up the fallen beads, and kneeled in front of the slide glass-doors of the balcony. He patiently waited the boy to notice him. Whe he sideglanced at him, Kylle opened his arms to him, his angelic smile never leaving his face.

The boy blinked his wet eyes, the black-glaze on them prevented any tear to leak, IT absorbed the liquid and made the glaze turned silvery for some moment. It blinded his vision for a while, and he dazedly trudged to the human he knew wasn't his-Human. But the open arms were so tempting, and the Air felt even colder...

He stopped in front of Kylle as if not allowing himself to fall further, but the hands reached out to his numb body and embraced him gently. The boy closed his eyes and slumped onto Kylle's shoulder.

"It's okay, I'm here..." the human-Kylle whispered to his ear.

((_...Mother's here...!_)) a sneer overlaid the voice in his mind. His mind-eyes saw the spirit-Kylle superimposed the human-Kylle who physically holding him.

"You're not alone...!" he said affectionately.

((_...Your Human's not alone, too...!!_)) a low chuckle reverberated his awareness, he tried to ignore it desperately.

A shadow stuck up its head on the edge of the glassframe showed on the floor told Kylle that Deia came back and watching them from behind. Only for a second and the shadow disappeared.

His smile never leaving his face...

---------------

He balled his small body in the darkness inside the armoire at the corner of the study-turned-his-room, Kylle had brought him to lie down in his bed, while he stroked his head gently from the edge of the bed where he sat, but the spirit-Kylle slouched flat to his back behind him made him feel worse. And so he ran and hid in the cabinet. The darkness welcomed him without rejection, and he succumbed to the emptyness. Letting the Time ticked away, and the world around him to spin in its unstopable pace, leaving him bare.

Somewhere in the whole time he'd fallen asleep, a light tired sleep where he felt his awareness flew outside his body and floating above the surroundings from a light-bulb POV on the ceilling. He saw the human-Kylle and the spirit-Kylle on his bed(2), he even saw his small body inside the armoire. A thought popped up in his mind, and he wondered whether he's dead.

A voice brought him back into the darkness.

"...-'said come out..!" the voice seemed like had been talking for sometime.

Strange... he didn't see his Human from 'up there'.

"...Yuy..!!" the voice carried an emergency and sounded frustrated.

The boy perked his head up at the name. The armoire's doors flung open suddenly and he had to block the sudden pour of light with his hand from blinding his eyes. A hand grabbed the hand in front of his face with a firm grip. It pulled his still numb body up and out of the tall cabinet, the room was gloomy-lighted he noticed when he could see again. His Human was leading him to _her_ bed. He unthinkingly obeyed and got in from his side of the bed. Deia held him close like a snuggling-bolster, and he lied still letting _her_ do whatever _she_ wanted. Wasn't he a good enough pet the whole time...?

"...Close your eyes !" Deia whispered from above his head that tucked under _her_ chin. He complied.

A cottony something bursted all around them and wrapped them in a coccoon-like space made him frozen in alarm. Deia stroked his rigid back slowly. "It's okay... It's just my Spell...! You can open your eyes now !" _Her_ voice sounded more gentle and clearer than before...

He opened his eyelids so slowly as fearing the false hope that might be given to him. Deia unfurled _her_ tight embrace on him, and withdrew a little, watching as his eyes fluttered open and with half-fear looked at _her_ eyes eventually. _She_ sighed as the prussians orbs greeted _her_, the black-glaze on them synched with the black-space of _her_ Spell and it brought back the real colour up to the surface, they glinted in the blackness, just like what _she_ saw in _her_ dream once.

Deia smiled half remorsedly and rubbed _her_ thumb to the boy's forehead apologetically. _She_'d been in constant fear and jealousy the past days, and the feeling of insecurity relayed to _her_ mind from the boy's was making it worse. Let alone the worries that something bad might happen to him when he's alone outside as he was the scapegoat to other people's beliefs. If Howard didn't put a restriction-charm on _her_, _she_ might have blown things up in major disasters. As it was, _she_ could only lashed out verbally. Wasn't the one you loved most was usually the one you hurt most...?

_She_ averted _her_ eyes from his wide inquiring stare, "...It's been... too much of a pressure lately, even my Wrath became too restless in my sanct'...!" Deia could ramble more but decided _she_ was making defensive excuses for _her_self and cut it. _She_ rolled to _her_ back, watching the black-space where they both floated in, even substantially, there's nothing to be looked at in there.

_...Wrath... a Spell's wrath..._

_-... and Black died taking the burnt of a Spell's wrath for me,..-._ he recalled what his Human had said about _her_ chimeras when _she_ bargained to have him.

"Hmmm... yes, that exactly the one-wrath...! I thought since my Black had died in my expense, so its only natural that the wrath become mine..." _she_ spoke as if to _her_self, it wasn't a trade, but fair is fair. "Your attend-... Kylle, was it? Already taught you something about how the Harmony works, right? Well, bassically, we tamed the spirits and feed them our life-force,...most of them, yeah...! Anyway, they usually in syncronize with the tamer's dispotition, like... you've seen Father's Spell is Veiled, right? Guess he's a protective person, and... Oh, there was this guardsman before when I was a little brat, who used to tell stories about outside lands, he had this nice Excel-Spell and Thwarth-Spell, and I know those two sounded far different in kinds, but he ended up being a traveler, guess you could see why...!" Okay, now _she_'s rambling. "And the good thing about Spell-users was that they don't have to be a Harmony user and that's why it's not very inconvenient for me to... let people know about my...-"

_Her _words slowed down and trailed off. "...Mine are Wrath and Mayhem... and Odiosa(3)...guess you could see me as a bitter person, hu...?" _She_ gave a tolerating smile, "...Essentially,... even 'Dio didn't really like me, anyway..."

Deia sensed a difference in the space, and turned to the boy again. The black-armor had slid open and left Prussian's face uncovered.

... "Hey..." _She_ whispered soulfully, "I missed you...!"

He blinked.

They stared each other for a long time. Then Deia moved and closed the gap between them, propping _her_ upper body on _her_ elbows, one hand stroking the boy's cheek.

"...Do you..."

"...want a share...?"

He blinked, mostly in question.

Deia drooped _her_ eyes, and bent _her_ neck down toward his face.

"...do you hate me..." a breathy whisper stopped _her_ movement, it was soft and voiceless like a breeze. "...because I'm a soulbonded..?" The words were said slow and accented, though that might just indicated that he hadn't spoken in a very long time.

Deia froze. _Her_ eyes wide at his.

"So it's true...?!"

"...once they tip you off about 'immortal', it's bound to be acknowledged, anyway...!" he wasn't really answering.

Deia blinked again. "You could talk..!"

He averted his eyes, with a little guilt mared his flushed face. "...you never ordered me to...!"

"No!! I'm not angry...!" Deia cupped his face with both hands to face _her_ again. And smiled. "It's not..." _She_ tried again, " If you didn't feel safe enough to open up and be yourself, then it's suppose to be my fault..!!"

"I...felt your insecurity and I... got this..." this time _she_ averted _her_ eyes, feeling the guilts _she_ tried to ignore the whole time, "...this...black-heart..." and trailed off, _she_ didn't elaborate more after that confession. They silenced again, marvelling the closeness and the other's presence as the black-space closed off everything outside, the world, the Time, the Land and its unforgiving Air.

"...I know..." the boy broke the silence first, "I'll keep you safe..."

His Human snickered and countered, "That's supposed to be my line..!!"

"...I know..." he repeated low. _She_ stared at his ancient old-eyes that seemed like they have the knowledge of everything.

"So was it a 'he' or a 'she' ?!" _she_ changed the subject suddenly, feeling a little unnerved by his intense eyes.

He knew it by instinct what his Human was talking about. "...souls don't have genders...!"

"Oh, right..." although it didn't make sense to _her_ in lenght. "...but you still searching your-...bonded?" _She_ was going to say 'pair' or 'half', but it felt like _she_ surrendered him to someone else.

"...'s still waiting..." his whisper was breathless.

"Yeah, thought so..." although there's a smile in _her_ tone, _she_ turned _her_ face from his.

"...even in the next life..." he said it in a tone that _she_ was desperate to ask what he'd implied and frightened at the same time.

"So you have awareness of being immortal...?"

"..body dies and be reborn... the soul goes on..."

"Like, you remember all the lifetimes you've had...?!" _she_ creased _her_ brows, "That sucks, right ?!" Thinking about what major-headache it would cause to remember everything!

"just...some short-memories every now and then..."

"Hmmm..." Deia casted _her_ eyes downward, _she_ didn't want him to see the jealousy in them, and somehow felt self-conscious about it. "...Do you... remember about your-bonded...?"

Prussian silenced. ..._one violet eye glowed in the darkness.._..

"Say, 'guess the souls gave birth to souls too, right..?!" feeling that _she_ didn't really wanted to know about it nor cared, _she_ changed the subject again.

The boy took the hint gratefully, a small smile lighted his face, a playful gleam in his eyes. "...I had children...!"

"What..?!" The thoughts of the boy in _her_ arms was not always a boy forever, never entered _her_ equation of mind before.

"Superficially speaking, you are a child to me, too..." his smile widened.

Deia went amnesia for some moment, when the words eventually sunk in, _she_ gave a funny expression it made the boy let out a breathy laugh.

"...you...you... I think of you as 'a little brother'...and just in a few sentences suddenly you became my great-...great-great-great-...GREAT...-great-greatgreatgreatgreatgreatgrandfather...?!!!"

The boy's body still shook with breathless laughter. _Her_ face turned beat red and fuming.

"I hate you...!!"

Prussian's laughter died down short after, his eyes glazed with sadness then. "...me too...!" The atmosphere felt a little awkward after that. Deia searched something in _her_ mind to fix it, but as _she_ couldn't find anything worth talking, _she_ drew Prussian's head closer with a hand encircled from under his chin to his side of face. _She_ tucked his forehead under _her_ chin and encircled the other hand to his head, humming silently.

""...Mourns..." the boy breathed, "...were born when souls die.." Deia's strokes on his hair faltered for a second.

"...they sang the mourn-song for them... it's bassically their praise-song as a farewell from the world-soul, to make their paths for another journey...different songs for different souls...one song for each and every one of them...one Mourn for one soul.."

"...when the mourn-song ends, the Mourns ended their existence, too..."

"..that's a too empty existence, isn't it..?" Deia whispered low, thinking what a short life a song-long lifetime would be.

"...the mourn-song turned into Mourn-children...! Then they diffused back into thin air and scattered around the world and Time, to sing another mourn-song for the death of another soul...if the soul wasn't a bonded, though, it will be reborn as a free soul again..."

Given birth by songs. Sounded too fairy-taled, but it makes sense for _her_ instinct somehow...

"So, there's no mourn-song for a being like me...?"

"No, every living being has its own Mourn-soul, they'll sing when the beings die...just like Rebirth sings when a living being is born..."

Deia furrowed a little. It's gotten more jumbled and _she_ never heard of the entities he's speaking about. Or maybe they're not familiar in this Land?

"Oh, I get it, Mourns and Mourn-souls are like two different kinds of the same race, right...? Like neighbours?!" that was half joking.

The boy snickered soundlessly. "...the Mourns are like sprites... Mourn-souls are like... " He stopped as he's searching for the right word, but the closest would be.. "...mothers..."

"...Ha...?!" Deia sweatdropped.

"...it's like mother's love...I guess... you don't see it but you can feel it...or know that it's suppose to be there..."

"Haa...!" Deia let out the sound and breath, didn't really know what to take about his explanation. Said like that could be taken as the same explanation for Death too, right...? Kind of like you know you're living when you're alive.

"...they sang beautifully...the song was beautiful, too..." he smiled.

"...You remember ?"

"...I've heard mine many times,... I could sing it myself..."

Deia silenced after that, slowly rubbing _her_ chin to the boy's head in _her_ arms. He closed his eyes. The words sunk in deeper than _she_ could tolerate right now, _she_ felt more lonely than before in the Land outside.

"...about your name you scribbled for me before..." _She_ tried to take _her_ mind off the subject. "It's okay I called you like that, isn't it? ...'Yuy' ?"

"...it's up to you how you pronounce it... it doesn't have the exact way how to read it..."

"No ? But that's your name, right...? How do they call you if there's no certain way of reading it...?!"

"...it's just like an insignia that has meaning, but everyone understands it's a name...they just didn't say it out... We use pseudonyms to call each others..."

"Like the Charms...? Why?"

"...names have power in them,...giving your name to others was like you give them the power to control you..."

Deia hummed, it sounded familiar, the concept. Then _she_ gasped, "I told your name to everyone...!! How..- Is that not dangerous...?! I didn't...-"

Prussian blinked, his Human was easy to be made panic. "...I gave it to you, others are out of the equation..."

Deia sighed deep in relief. "...Really? Good, so there won't be trouble-...Wait, why did you give it to me, in the first place...?" _She_ furrowed.

The boy blinked, and looked anywhere but _her_. "...if..you wanted to control me...use me...I'm used to be us-..." Deia closed his mouth with _her_ hand. _She_ didn't want to hear more of it. "After your introduction ceremony you'll never say things like that again, understand...?" _She_ said sternly.

". . . . . . . my...introduction-...?"

_She_ brightened. "Hm!! We'll have a big ceremony for you, so everyone in the Land will know that you're not an available possession !! You'll be formally a Castile's denizen, so you'll be legally free from any mercenary...! 'Thrice' said it's never been done before, taking a pet to be a royal, except for freeing slaves, but there's really no rule against it, so I said it could be done, then it's done..!" Deia said glowing in happiness and self satisfaction. "If anyone wants to counter it, they'll have a mouthfull of my curses!! I said that to the councill..!" _She_ stuck out _her_ tongue, remembering how everyone in the councill sweatdropped at _her_ threats.

The boy blinked, his Human had gone that far for him?

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to give you false expectation if ever the councill overruled it...! I wanted to, badly, your wide and open stare everytime I came to see you didn't help one bit, and I had to conquer the urge and so I acted a little too coldly, right? Took them a week to disscuss it out. I think I've been too bussy with myself and abandoned you, haven't I...?"

Prussian's chin trembled, Deia could feel his heart beating faster. "I was a little too ecstatic with the good news and wanted to tell you right away, but you were out, and I guess my paranoia got the better of me that the bads got you first outthere, and I... guess have to work something out with my bad-tempers, hu ?!" Deia ended shyly.

"And still all the time I was worried that the Land will get you when I'm not around, I almost didn't make it in time just then...The Air is something more than what you couldn't breathe, so I need you to not lose yourself...!" _She_ kissed his forehead once, and looked at his wide eyes. "...okay?"

He didn't react right away.

". . . . .baka...!!" he whispered hoarsely. "...baka-Human...!!" and rolled his body to fetal position, and grabbed _her_ long braid to hide his face in _her_ arms.

"What...? What's a 'baka'?" Deia cocked _her_ head down but couldn't see his face. "Hey, don't cry, this's suppose to make you happy, not sad...!" The boy balled his body tighter. Deia smiled in understanding, "No matter how old your soul is, you're still a child right now, so live like one, okay? Let the adults take care of you a little, I'll take care of you...!" Deia stroke his back affectionately, feeling a soundless whimper on _her_ palm. A soft mewling sound answered _her_.

"But you have to be something for me. I give my life, I want my death in return...!" Prussian stilled. "...you know about me, I think. They ought to get me, it's only a matter of time...so, be my Death, that way noone else can take my life..! I will only accept my death from your hands!"

He sat up, still holding the braid. Looking straight at _her_ excessive violet eyes in the blackness. _She_ wiped his tears with _her_ thumbs. "Promise me...?" _she_ said softly. He didn't give any coherent answer, but _she_ could see it in his eyes, so _she_ smiled gratefully. And took him to _her_ embrace, rocked him gently...

Life's getting along just fine...

_It's not raining_.

---------------

In the Underspace, a red-haired elfin entity humming his favorite song, a smile of satisfaction on his face. His windy red eyes gleamed in expectations, looking at the still hollowed layers of white-clouds above him, as he knew his game still continued for somemore times.

_come out, come out, Little Deity_

_let's play.._

_let's play... _

He ended with a soft chuckle every now and then.

His body floated lazily between the white-smoky air, both hands folded behind his head. The cloudy winds played with his long tail of red braid, his red untamed locks wafted like flames around his white colourless face, the two-lines marking each side of his face glowed like a burning lava. He felt his body surged with powers and he almost couldn't wait in the expectation. All the time thinking of a way to 'counteract' the little jinx with whitefire eyes. May be thinking of too many ways, and he couldn't decide wich will satisfy his boiling soul the most.

Either way, the propecy never really mentioned about '_a male heir_'...it just said '_a boy of the Castile_', that could be any boy that lives in the Castile... he chuckled merily...he had a list of the to-be-counteracted, and wanted to just bolted to every one in the list and tear them to parts with his hands. A shiver run up his smoky body as he gratify the urge with only imagining of doing just so, made it semi-transparent for a moment, he sighed deeply in contentment.

His smile never leaving his face.

---------------

In a round stone-chamber, a teenager's one visible eye glowed in the darkness. A silvery-flame burning lazily on his left palm, a coil of red-flame with edges like the colour of a molten lava swirling and spiralling in it, as if trying to get out of the silvery-flame as its cage.

His porcelain-mask face hardened a fraction, '_...I never like fire...!_'

---------------

---------------

a native plant's name, with pine-like barks, and clear-crystal leafs that could 'absorb' fire to _burn_ inside them; the inlanders used them as traditional-made lights and accessories. Far easier to find than light-crystals usually used for big buildings and palaces. The leaf's surface felt cottony, and produced a soft whistling and tinkling sound when the breeze passed through them.

...NOT _in bed_ like **that**...you perverts nn" (although it's FUN to be imagined...but you're not suppose to write a fic out of a fanfic you write, right...???? ...write...? Hey, saru made a pun..!!)

the given words to call the spells counted as their names, so Deia shortened it for its nickname


	13. jealous moon

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku march 27, 2007 **

warning : this chapter contains some gore/death, pedophilish issues/rape-attempt, if you don't like it just skip the parts...language, too.

**# 13 Jealous Moon**

_under the name of hatred_

_we learn to love the love to hate each other_

_where has our war gone to...?_

There had been countless skirmishes in the past 2 years, the aggressors had been from various kind of communities, which was something out of the typical case, someone would just think that they were standing in lines for their turns to attack Archantra. Like vultures waiting a bite of the soon-to-die prey, only the white Land was not a dying prey for them, and they showed them just how alive the prey-tagged inlanders were. The total minor battles almost had equal number with the battles in 10 years in entirerity. It was as if something had drawn them to Archantra for somemore specific reason other then larceny, its been making Odin more and more aggravated, because if they didn't have the Charms on their side they wouldn't classified a few of those battles as skirmishes.

The OWLs had been more discreet in their movement, that was something new. Usually they were barging in, or tried to actually, like a bunch of bees plunging themselves into fire. Their new scheme lately was well organized and structurized, like there's a mastermind behind them. Well, some of their methods were just as haphazard as before, but they assumed that it was just something to divert them.

Howard and the others might noticed it as well, that it had started after the OWL attack and The Collector's 'little visit' that day, they just didn't say it out.

Deia had improved _her_ Harmony control somewhat, _she_ could use it for minor daily things, as Howard still restricted _her_ for major usings. But _she_'d completely thrilled as Yuy didn't show that much of 'allergics' to _her_ Harmony anymore, not that he could stand other's though. Still, as _she_ could use it without the fear of hurting him gave _her_ a great relief to some extent. No, the main matter didn't lie there actually. The boy had been constantly on _her_ tail or at _her_ pressence everywhere, but so did (the human) Kylle to his, and automatically, to both of their pressence. He wasn't invading or anything, in the contrary he'd been the nicest of people, but just the fact that someone always watching their every movement gave Deia the feeling of being under surveillance. No wonder that Lyea had this more gloomy face when she'd first being tailed everywhere by that maid Kyllea. Speaking of which, Deia had been feeling the maid's stares on _her_ more and more cryptic everyday, as if she was waiting for something to happen. It wasn't bad, just not really comfortable to be felt around.

Out of _her_ knowledge, Yuy knew that the winecolour-haired maid was actually making some internal contacts with the spirit Kylle always lurking close at his back. Not something to grow alarm for, she seemed to have restricted the entity somewhat from doing more rather physical progress towards him, as Deia was always in the same atmosphere. It seemed like the spirit-Kylle was someone she barely could control, the chaos-element in their system. But the boy would watched closely in case anything of new development should happen. Eitherway, he didn't tell his Human about him, he didn't want to give his Human more things to worry about.

He watched his Human's back as close as he could, they even sleeping in the same bed again, in _her_s. Of course doing it secretly, when it was about time to wake up, he'll sneak back to his bed so (the human) Kylle would find him there by the time he came from the balcony entrance (as the only private entrance of the ex-livingroom was from the balcony, and the sweet Kylle wouldn't want to intrude a Lady's room. That wouldn't be polite to say the least).

The adults had made separate arangements for him, an adjacent room to _her_ chamber. Especially now that Deia's twelve and started to bloom like a flower, prettier than everyone had ever seen. But _she_ kept saying _she_ wanted him in _her_ atmosphere. Truthfully, unknown to others, _she_ kept him in tact in more ways than anyone could see. The Air didn't lessen its attack on him especially when he's sleeping, that's one reason why Deia wanted him in the same bed, it would try to absorb his cosciousness when he drifted to deep sleep and _she_'d wake him up when _she_ felt he's slipping from _her_. Reattached with their share so he could cling on to _her_ consciousness when he couldn't hold his. As for Deia, _she_ felt safer when _she_'s not alone against the Land's pressence. Together they'll survive somehow.

A knock on the doors to her study took Lyea's attention from the book she was reading. Deia didn't wait the answer and opened the door, _she_ let _her_self in. "You wanted to see me?"

Noting the unpleased furrow on _her_ brows, Lyea smiled politically. "I suspect you already know what it's about?"

"I've said it hundreds times, Lyea, there's nothing you should be worried about the relationship between me and Yuy...!!"

Lyea gave a soft snort, still smiling at _her_ stubborness. "It's not about that, actually--"

"Then, about people talking about us...?!" Deia interlaced _her_ fingers in front of _her_ body dignifiedly, still standing in front of her desk. _She_'d acted a bit more princessy these past times, mostly to 'service' other's fawns. "I don't treat him as a pet anymore, so when I asked him to follow me around, I didn't force him or order him or anything--"

"That would be the problem, isn't it?" Lyea interjected _her_, "You see him as a free willing individual, yet you--"

"I said I didn't force him, Sister...!" Deia's eyes glinted with aggravation.

"I was talking about you should let him have private matters like time for his education and such, since you made him a free individu, you should start to akcnowledge his needs for his future life!"

Deia huffed in annoyance. "I see to his educational activities in my spare times myself, he followed me to my lessons when he didn't have his own. That worked just fine...!"

Lyea sighed, "You talk like you think he'll always be in the Castile forever, Deia, you should let him learn something more of how to settle down and have a decent life as--"

"That's not correct!!" Deia pouted stubbornly. "He will always be by MY side...!!"

Lyea slapped her forehead dramatically. "That's what the matter there, don't you think ?!"

"... I know I don't OWN him...!"

"Deia, you're treating him like you're going to marry him someday..!--"

"You think...?!" Deia brightened a nice flush tinted _her_ face. Lyea who was still going to say something, choked by the still unspoken words. She took a doubletake, and clamped her mouth dignifiedly.

"Deia, you're twelve and he's still ten..." at least that's what they estimated of his age, "...marriage is still far from..--"

"There's your answer...!" Deia grinned sweetly. "You shouldn't worry yourself too much, you'd get early wrinkles on your face!" _she_ added jokingly. "Besides, mother and father had known each other from early age, didn't mean they got married right then and there..!"

Lyea pursed her lips. "This is not about marriage, Deia...!!" Oh, she'd forgotten what she was going to speak to _her_ about. Deia had a better political mouth than her, when _she_ had something to aim for. Where had her famous wisdom when she needed it...?! "Besides, you are both..."

Deia lifted _her_ brows up inquiringly, _she_ knew _her_ sister wouldn't finish her sentence. "Alright, alright!" Feeling a little blackmailed, Lyea lifted both hands up. Sighing. "But to others..."

"We're both children, Sister dear...!" Deia finished it for her with an understanding smile. Lyea stared. Deia bent forward and whispered to her ear, "...I don't want him in here forever, my Sister...!"

Lyea stared _her_ still. Deia gave a smile, then let _her_self out, leaving her to her thinking.

"...Lady...!" a soft breathy whisper came from the doors. Lyea turned her head, to find prussian eyes burnt at her. "...I won't be a burden !"

"I didn't say you would, Yuy...!" she said smiling. He must have been standing outside the doors.

"...I won't be burdened, either !" His rich coloured orbs said the determination he didn't say outloud.

The simple words struck her speechless, and she stared at him for somemore time, then smiling with a nod. With that she closed the conversation, and turned to her book again.

Yuy was still standing at the doors, watching her for sometime. Then, he reached in his pocket and advanced to her desk. Lyea looked at him questioningly, he had a soft protective gleam in his eyes, which were speaking the smile hidden under the black-armor. He opened his palms to her, in his hands were several crystal cuts of various colours. They were tied as pendants by handmade threads with intricate plaits.

"You made them...?"

Yuy nodded.

"For Deia, right ?"

"...Lady choose one.."

Lyea cocked her head to the side. "...Shouldn't Deia choose first?"

"Human got plenty...!"

"Hmm... okay !" she took closer look at the pendants, seeing as they were of no ordinary crystals. "This...?" she took a clear octagonal-column pendant that had milky smoke-like coils swirling lazily in it. The boy let out a soft snicker-like noise, sounded happy.

Lyea dangled the small pendant that was about the size of her finger to her face, watching in amusement as the smoke-coil wafted and blended like a livingthing swimming in the clear crystal. She curiously touched the coil's 'head' and it let out a whirring sound as it turned cool to her touch.

"Uwhaaa...!" Lyea jumped surprisedly and had to catch the thrown crystal twice in the air. The crystal felt even cooler in her palms, almost like ice.

Yuy let out a happy sigh, "That's Skirr... Skirr likes Lady...!"

"...Whaaa'..?" Lyea asked holding her bits of scattered dignity.

"Try to stroke..." he mimicked with his forefinger. Lyea complied, and finding the crystal actually purred when she stroked it. She blinked.

"Blow a breath... just softly..." he added. It gave a breeze-sound when she did, soft and unendingly.

"...Try hum..." The boy's eyes lit up more. Glad that the human-Lady liked his present.

"Hum...? A song?"

He flicked his head, "...just a short hum is okay..."

The crystal let out a whistling sound at her humming, it tuned with the coil's movement. Lyea stared at it in wonderment. "Can it talk...?!"

The boy shook his head, "Skirr doesn't have tongue...!" he whispered matter of factly. Lyea chuckled at his stumped expression, "No, it doesn't!"

"So, how do I make it stop...?" the whistling died down almost at the same time she said it. Lyea blinked and stared at it, the coolness she felt on her palm heated up to the room's temperature too.

"Skirr understands...Skirr's a good friend..!" he whispered wistfully. Lyea looked at him, an understanding downed on her, "Skirr is your friend...?" The boy nodded twice. "I'll take good care of Skirr, then!"

The boy's eyes drooped in a smile, "Skirr will alert me when Lady's in trouble...just ask Skirr to relay the message..." a little flush coloured his face.

Lyea's eyes widened a little, "Then, don't you want to give it to Deia instead?" He shook his head vigorously. "I will be by Human's side...!" He whispered absolutely, as if saying she shouldn't worry about _her_. It silenced her for quite sometime.

"Thankyou...!" she smiled then. Yuy gave a small bow, then fled to catch up with his-Human. Since the first time he started to speak around her she'd noticed that he never refer to Deia as 'she' or 'her', just 'Human'. She wondered if the mysterious mesmerizing boy somehow realized Deia's true nature. She sighed to herself and stared at the crystal dangled in front of her face.

"You're a good friend, aren't you, Skirr...?" and stroked it tentatively with a finger. It let out a strong 'purring' sound as if delighted. Lyea smiled happily in return. Almost immediately, Howard knocked at the slightly ajar door and let himself in, he stopped noticing the sounds reverberating in the room. "What's this sound...? You kept a cicada in here ?!" he looked around at the ceiling. Lyea laughed merrily at that. "It's a protection present from Yuy...!"

"Protection...?" Howard's brows shot up.

"Just something to alert him in case I'm in trouble, he said!" Lyea willed the crystal to silence and tied the thread to her waistband. "He's started to become protective over people he likes, hasn't he?" Howard said remembering the boy gave him a wrought-iron carving that could make a whistling sound in the winds, noting to himself that the boy also liked whistling sound a lot. "I guess when most people in your whole life were abussive to you, you'd want to keep the good ones save with all you might, don't you think, Howard?"

Howard shrugged, he'd noticed that even 'Thrice''s eye didn't shine red as the sign of alertness in the boy's company anymore. "Yeah, he's a talented tamer too, that little brown-head...!" he added offhandedly.

---------------

"Hold still..!! I couldn't see your face !" Deia said as _she_ butted Yuy's forehead with _her_s. They were both waistdeep in _her_ bathroom's small pool. Above the palm of _her_ hands were two deep-green watterballs rolling idly in the air.

_...this is not a good idea...!_ Yuy closed his eyes tightly, straightened his head facing _her_. "Don't crease your brows like that, or they would get splotchy-coloured..!!"

"Come on, I wouldn't want to hurt you...! Although that's not a guarantee that it would work out the way I think it should..." _she_ countered _her_self. The boy gave a small mewling sound of protest. "Just hold still and trust me, okay...?!" _she_ pleaded. "Oh, and hold your breath..!!" _she_ reminded, despite his black-armor still sticking to his half-face.

"Now!!" _she_ warned, and the watterballs launched at his head from both sides and enclosed it entirely. The watter made a few swirling and lost its colour gradually, when it cleared Deia opened both palms at its sides not really touching it. The watter poured down to the pool, leaving the boy's hair a deep-green colour, including his facial hair. _She_ let out a relief snort _she_'d been holding and brushed the boy's strands out of his eyes. "That works...!!" _she_ exclaimed.

"You okay? ...no side effect anywhere, right...?!" _she_ cupped his face with both hands. The eyes fluttered open and blinked several times, the irises focused up to their eyelashes.

"...green..." he breathed slowly. Deia laughed, "You said you didn't want other colour..!" Actually, he said green goes with the colour brown (wood) in the forest outside, not that he wanted green hair. "Your nails could be covered with gloves, so they're fine, I guess!"

"Right!! Let's get ready, then!!" _she_ grinned widely. Yuy sighed under his black-armor.

_...still, it's not a good idea...!_ He thought to himself as his Human already bounced off to the wardrobe room.

---------------

"...Trae..!!" Deia crouched on tree trunk in the disguise of the leafs.

The teenage boy on the bench under the tree sideglanced up, "Dee...!" his eyes lit up, almost immediately he covered his mouth as realizing his exclaim was too loud, sideglancing to his surrounding discreetly.

"The Charms' here...? Let's see..." Deia half speaking to _her_self, closing _her_ eyes while feeling the significant Harmony-signature of the Charms in the vicinity. "...hmmm, baked mimosa-cake smell...'Seventh'! ...tinkling sounds and red-shining Cotton-winds leafs... 'Thrice' ?!" _she_ widened _her_ eyes. The boy down let out an impressed snort. "They came here often lately..! I guess 'Thrice'-shæ (1) was just acompanying 'Seventh'- shæ in the beginning!"

"In the beginning...?" Deia lifted one brow. Then climbed down, Yuy jumped down without a noise after _her_. Trae nodded to him once. "Green...!" He breathed appreciatively, the now green-haired boy just blinked. "This time no splotches, see...?!" Deia beamed self-proudly. Yuy gave a little dog-whine sound from behind the plaid-scarf covering his black-armor, and Trae laughed at that. They had to hide his original brown-hair, it's stood out in the Land.

They stooped-walking and tiptoe-ing the large building between gardens and open-corridors to the backyard, led by Trae. He pointed to the far tree colony behind a tower. Deia widened _her_ eyes as _she_ could see 'Thrice' sitting stoically on a tree, with a little girl –at least _she_ thought it was a girl- sleeping soundly at his side, using his body as a back cushion. "Isle came about three months ago, apparently the parents were killed by a herd of beasts from the Forest, she survived because the elder sister hid her in a barrel in the basement-storage...almost her whole village didn't survive, though." Trae shrugged. "She never talked ever since,...barely showed any interest towards anything. When 'Thrice'-shæ came with the other Shæyuä, though..." The boy flicked his head to Deia behind, "You know 'Thrice'-shæ usually doesn't mingle with the flock," and continued their discreet walk. "Well, she found a liking to him when 'Thrice'-shæ sat on the tree like that, stared up at him for hours until he lifted her to sit beside him...!"

"Hee...I know 'Seventh', but I didn't know 'Thrice' likes children!"

"Likes stoic children, apparently. He seemed like in torture among the boisterous ones!" Trae chuckled to himself. "But I thought they said 'opposite attracts'..!"

"Hmmm..._attacks_, you mean. I got the feeling he'd found us peering on him...!" Deia mumbled. _Actually, since about halfway to this place...!_ Yuy thought, but didn't say it.

The big school was also used as orphanage, it classified the lessons from commoners' classes to Charms', since the Charms' potencials usually came to the surface at the early age of puberty, although some were of exception. "You don't want to meet the flock first...? They'd love to meet you after long time no see!" Trae asked Deia lowly. They're almost walking on fours as they passed the low-windowed corridor. "With the Charms here?! I don't want to face a lecturing-Howard when we get back...!" Deia made a face. At that Trae laughed again.

"Well, there's your free passage,...just remember don't get into trouble, or we'll get the trouble too for letting you escape to town...!!" Trae warned them sternly as they got to the unused water-tunnel hid between the thick bushes. They need to get out secretly of the inner-circle of the Castile's city to the downtown where commoners lived, since the Charms had their wards erected around the city, in each circle of the Land's landscape system, so they'd know if anyone passing the wards. In the water tunnel, simple undetectability-charm would do to slip through, because of the stone used to built it. For some reasons, Deia suspected that they knew what they're doing every now and then, skipping to the town or villlages, but they let _her_ away with it. These times, though, as the situation were kind of boiling, _she_ wasn't very sure they'd let them go. But _she_ needed _her_ vacation, Yuy needed his escape from the Castile's atmosphere too. It's been too thick to move in nowadays.

"Ahhhhhhh...the free air...!!" Deia breathed deep dramatically and marveled the town's atmosphere. After they walked the one and a half kilometer in the tunnel, finally open scenery.

_...it's still the same Air...!_

"Oh, don't ruin my dramatics moments, okay, Pru...?!" Deia pouted. Yuy snorted.

They went to the open market and road-shows, Deia loved to munch every snack _she_ set _her_ eyes on. The boy usually got spellbinded by the flute roadshow, although Deia thought watching a few beasts dancing to the instrument's tune was not boring, but that was animal-slavery to _her_. Sometime _she_ wondered if may be the boy got caught by the hypnotizing-chants in the flute's music, since he's a Wild too, but that kind of thinking would lead to imagining the boy dancing in the street, with his eyes closed in trance, the winds blew around him made him look ethereal, the sweatbeads shimmering under the Stratus's lights and made his body-tight white tunic looked almost transparent, and...sometimes _she_'d wonder why _her_ head felt lighter and _her_ nose got hotter like it's going to have a nosebleed. Eitherway, after about fifteen minutes for him to listen to the tune, _she_'d drag him from the roadshow just for caution. There were still many places _she_ wanted to go to, anyway. _She_ played the three-ball(2) with the town's children in one of the corner, they welcomed _her_ as easily even though they didn't know _her_. It's one of his Human's natural charms, the boy noted. He would just stand at the side, watching _her_ back. Anyway, the children's play was too slow for his reflexes, if he joined he'd attract too much unwanted attention.

Deia wore a girl's kneelength tunic and ¾ leggings, so _she_ could move freely. Although the boy fearing _her_ hair colour would attract unwanted attention just as his original's sometimes, but silvery-purple was not that significant in truth, especially among the colourful-haired inlanders of Archantra, _she_ just have to wear commoner's accessories for addition. Still it's not that common, never the less. Sometimes, he felt like he was being over protective of his Human, or just his paranoia came to get him.

"Uwaaahhh... that was FUN...!!" Deia sighed happily, stretching _her_ worked up body. They walked the country path to the outer villages.

_...You sure we should come to this parts...? You heard Trae's story about the beasts' attacks! _Yuy followed close behind.

"I have a far superior Beast, here. I'm not afraid of some coward beasts attacking people in large numbers..!!" _She_ turned suddenly and grabbed him affectionately, rubbing _her_ cheek to his forehead.

_...shouldn't the fact that they attack in large numbers to be the main caution...?!_

"You think too much, Pru...!!" Deia snorted and walked again through the tree colony shading the path. Yuy suddenly grabbed _her_ arm and pulled _her_ back. Deia yelped reflexively, as the boy flashed to _her_ front and a clang of metal heard.

Deia righted _her_ footings, became alert of their surrounding. To their leftside, a small dart stuck to the ground, it's usually poisoned and used by hunters to tranquilize the animals. Yuy had his naqta(3) in his hand by his front, the thing he used to shield off the dart with. The other hand was halfcircled to the back, guarding Deia's body.

"Well, well, what we have here..?! Some Castile's denizens...!" A heavy voice greeted them from the front. A man in black leather suit and grey armor stepped out from behind a tree. "You're still too small to be a bodyguard, don't you think, boy ?!" he asked staring at the naqta. Somemore men got out of their hideouts behind and on the trees. They were armed with mostly hunter's weaponry, but one of them was holding a staff with Creiss-stone tied to its head. _Darn!_ Deia tsked as _she_ felt _her_ Harmony got cut off of the Land's by the stone's wave. How could_ she _be that careless...?!What's a gang of mercenaries with a Charms-killer stone got to do with them, anyway? _She_ didn't give out that _she_ was a Harmony-user as long as _she_ could remember outside.

Yuy flicked the blades out of the naqta's ends. The clink sound alerted the men surounding them immediately, they aimed their weapons to them at ready. Bull-crossbows, poison-darts, fire-spears, energy-absorbing links with missile-spikeballs hovering close by,...nothing he'd never seen two years ago. The boy thought as he assessed their weaponry. Except for the low-ringing stone on the staff held by the one at the far back. He tried to shut off the infrasonic waves that were vibrating his hypersensitive eardrums.

_Don't...!_ Deia held him back from behind. _They have a Creiss-stone with them. It's shutting in my Harmony completely. Besides, it has a Wave-energy too, you don't want to get a Wave-hit, don't you?! _He let out a warning growl to them as answer. The man who first came out chuckled openly, lifting one of his thick bluish-grey brows derisively. He lifted a hand for his men, and they shot out the darts.

Deia stood still in a perfect standing pose as flashes of white-metal swishing around _her_ body, crushing the darts to the grounds. _She_ trusted him with _her_ safety, his safety was suppose to be _her_ responsibility. Yuy stopped his motion with his naqta-blades in each hand, arms stretched wide like an eagle, back flat to his Human's body. "I see, you're qualified as a bodyguard, though...!" The man mumbled appreciatively. The boy flicked the inner blades of the halve-naqtas out, they were longer than the blades at the outer-ends, which shaped like hexagonal-stars, and shaped like common blades instead.

"I really don't want to damage my goods, the buyers hate damaged things...! And I don't want to damage my men, either!" he mumbled again. Deia's eyes snapped at him. What goods ?! _She_ wanted to attack verbally, but covered _her_ ears as the man with the Creiss-stone approached. The boy's eyes shone in anger as he instinctively knew what the stone was, he roared. The nearest man to him was taken aback a little. "A Wildling...!" another one murmured.

Then a whizzing sound heard, he felt his Human embraced him tightly from behind, bending _her_ body forward as if shielding him, and that was all he could remember...before his consciousness sunk in the darkness, however, he thought he'd seen a flash of blood-red coloured whispy hair, and an angelic smile, in a blurr. Then just void-black.

---------------

The first thing he was aware of was a hundred-years worth of headache, then of the boiling sensation in his inner organs, later when he could regain his motoric senses was that his legs couldn't move, seemed like they were tied together from just under the knees to the ankles, the cold bitings he felt on them was surely from the chains, that compared to the same immobileness of his upper body and that his hands were tied together to his back and on top of them they cocooned his chest with chains again that were mostly the thing responsibled for his suffocating feeling...but then again, it might be caused by the craft-plate rejecting him again from the insides...he couldn't decide which was which and felt like his brain going to blow up any moment..._someone please stop that torturing ringing sounds...! _

Cool drips of water on his face made him forced his glued eyelids open. Everything was overlighted and swimming and blurry, he told his stomach to stop rebelling.

"...Pru,...you're okay?" a soft whisper sounded like a full blast for his headaching hearing and he gasped silently, the sudden intake jarred his poor lungs and he had to hold his slipping consciousness in the present with all his might, as he knew instinctively whom the whisper was belong to. "O, goddesses...please be okay...!" the desperate concerns reached his mind, and he fought desperately to will himself conscious enough.

_... m...fine..._ he thought mostly to dictate himself.

Somemore whispers sounded but he couldn't make his hearing cooperative as the aches overwhelmed his body and everything turned black again. A low sweet chuckle echoed in the back of his mind, and he hated himself that he failed to protect his Human from _them_, whoever included in _them_ was.

((...ah, Deity, don't sulk alone...play a little more longer...!)) the sweet echo said, and he willed himself to sink in the darkness to avoid it, the complete darkness where noone could bug his unbidden solitude.

---------------

He didn't know how long he'd been unconscious the second time precisely, but his inner clock told him about several hours of the same day had passed since his second black out -he couldn't trace about his first one, though-, still it rather felt like several lifetimes as he tried to move his fosilized body. Or maybe they concreted his body in a cement mixture or something.

"...Prussian...!" the soft whisper now sounded like a soft whisper, thankfully.

He tried something and surprised himself as he let out an involuntary small moan. Then more scattered drips of water reached his face, his now more aware mind told him that likely his Human splashed the water from someplace where Human couldn't reach him physically. The thought about Deia willed him to open his eyes.

It was dark, but not pitch black like in his solitude, rather gloomy shaded everywhere. Where's this everywhere, anyway...?

"...Prussian !" a hearfully whisper heard again. He tried to searched with his eyes. And found his Human about two meters away from where his body lied almost faced down. Human was sitting on the floor with hands extended to him that couldn't reach him. Surroundings came into focus eventually, centered on Human's space first. They were in someplace of cages with wooden floor that were giving unending humming sound and shaking lightly. Something of transportation mean, then.

_...you're... hurt..._ he thought tiredly, staring at his Human's forehead that was sporting a light bruise. "No, I'm not..! They didn't hurt me anywhere !" Deia's whisper carried a smile.

The boy closed his eyes, his Human didn't aware of the bruise on the forehead then, likely Human did it to self by pressing it hard to the cage bars trying to reach him. Now that he thought of it, he could see it clearly in his mind. More waterdrips on his face. He opened his eyes again.

"...drink...?" Deia's voice wavered a little. The boy just stared at _her_ driftingly.

Deia sniffed once, and brushed _her_ nose with the back of _her_ hand. "...share ?" _she_ asked encouragingly, and managed a smile. The boy blinked tiredly. "Come on, shift your body slowly...!" He blinked again staring at _her_ open hands. They didn't tie _her_ or anything, likely they just feared him as a beast, like any other people did. He felt his face, they didn't put a harness on it. Must be because they didn't think it was necessary since they thought the black armor was to prevent him from biting anyone.

He tried to move his heavy-chained body, and gave a sharp moan as he felt every bits of it shredded from the inside out. Deia sniffed again, "...move slowly, Pru, come on...!" _Her_ fingers furled and unfurled unconsciously as _she_ willed him to be in _her_ arms. His vision went swimming again, and he forced his body to worm closer to _her_ with his eyes closed. All the time using _her_ encouraging whispers as beacon. Feeling as his consciousness tried to slip from his grasp again and again, registering Deia's encouragements that were sounded more and more desperate and frightened.

A touch of _her_ cold fingertips on his forehead stopped him for a moment. "Wait..!!" Deia went to the poor resemblance of a sink on the corner of _her_ cageroom and brought a wetted handkerchief to him. _She_ wiped his burning face with it as he wormed closer. When he's close enough for _her_ to grab his tunic's shoulder, Deia pulled his dog-tired body to _her_ arms, half-sitting half-reclining, separated by the cage bars that were dividing the big cage into two cagerooms. He marveled _her_ cool embrace and light kisses on his face, grateful that his body didn't betray him this time, noting that _she_ sniffed quite often. _She_ didn't cry, though, or may be _she_ didn't openly.

Deia held his head to rest on _her_ forehead from between the cagebars, all the time murmuring comforting words and gratefulness. _Her_ hands encircled his head and cocooned body as close as possible, giving him time he needed to hold himself together again. His deathly-pale face and fever were what concerned _her_ the most right now, not about the situation of being kidnapped and most likely going to be sold as merchandise.

_She_ brushed the black-armor open and let _her_ fingers ghosted on the darkened lips. "Share...?" The boy's answer was only to open his lips just for a slight. Deia instinctively let out a hushing sound before _she_ kissed the burned temple and maneuvered his face so _she_ could cover his mouth through the gaps of the bars.

They shared for the longest time and poorly didn't felt enough the slightest bit. Yuy felt his vital-force renewed a little, feeling completed as his Human centered in to his existence, but a nagging at the back of his mind kept bothering his awareness. A low sweet chuckle that echoed on and on. An indistinctive breeze-sound greeted him in his owned-space, _someone_ tried to warn him. Eyes on him, on them...uncomfortable heady smell of hormons filled the air, dry moans, bad-liquor smell...sounds of boots from behind...human! Bad human! Bad scent..!! Bad intention!!

The boy opened his eyes and pulled his head back, his Human's face was still in a bliss and the eyes fluttered open, _she_ was going to ask him what was wrong when suddenly he was pulled back roughly, almost thrown to the floor, a big rough hand crushed on his head to keep him down. A sneer smelled of bad liquor and something vile.

"Looks like ya little bitches already had adequate training as bitches, ain't ya...?!" a haggard man with uncountable scarrs that made his face almost unrecognizable leered at them, when he stared down at the boy he licked his ruptured lips, his incomplete teeth were so dirty they were almost black. He was panting short heavy breaths and kept licking his leering lips.

Deia felt a cold heat rundown _her_ spines. _She_ stared with wide eyes unable to move. The words _her_ sister always said to _her_ echoed unbiddenly in _her_ mind...'wrong kind of people', 'wrong kind of people', but being raised in a palace meant _she_ never really acquainted with those kind of people, and _she_ didn't really know what they always refered to when they said the words. For them, they were only sharing, but for other people's eyes, they were kissing openmouthed. That was what Lyea wanted to warn them, but Deia was still too naive and she didn't really want to explain about adult stuffs to _her_ yet.

_She_ clutched the cage bars tightly in both hands.

"Both o' ya made me a little bussy with myself, so ya hafta take the responsibility a little..!!" his dry chuckle was like the sound of grating gravels. "Preferably _a little_ tighter than my grip...!" he leered widely, drools dribbled down from his mouth. His left hand was still crushing the boy's head down, his right hand was wandering around his own crotch, his buckles were undone, and under the unmade tunic Deia could see something jutted to his front that made _her_ stomach churn.

The man pulled down the boy's pants to his knees roughly, it pooled on where the chains allowed the access. Yuy gave a sharp sound of fear and surprise when the man feeling his right tigh up to his buttocks with hard squeezes. "Nice ass...!!" He said appreciatively disgusting. Deia gasped as _her_ mind felt an electrical slap seeing what he was doing to _her_ Prussian.

"Unhand him, you bastard..!!" _she_ barked furiously.

The ugly man looked at _her_ and snickered sickly. "I wasn't planning to _hand_ your little bitch, _milady_...!" Then he pulled the boy's hips up, prostrating on his knees, planting his rough fingers hard enough to bruise, his thumb on his opening. The boy let out an unrepressed sound, and the man laughed disgustingly. "Like it hard, ain't ya, bitch?"

A white outdoor slipper flew to his head. The man clutched it and tossed the harmless thing to the floor, he sneered at Deia's enraged face. Brushing the boy's right buttock with his thumb while his hand gripping his hip again. His sneer got wider as the boy let out a small whimper despite his effort to not make a sound. Deia's eyes were watery by the rage and _her_ powerless state, _she_ just stared him with such hatred _she_ wished it could kill him then and there. The man seemed to know what _her_ thoughts were and he laughed smugly, then bent forward and licking him wet with his badsmelled saliva. Deia gasped with revulsion on _her_ face, an involuntary shiver run up and down _her_ rigid frame, and the man laughed louder. He's enjoying this game a lot.

Yuy kept his eyes closed tightly by the pain and fear, his jaws were pressed so hard with each other they started to ache. His body trembled lightly despite his defiant effort to repress it. He felt the man's wet tongue brushed his tight opening and lingered longer on his sac from between his tighs, and let out a choked sound. Another slipper hit the man's head, Deia had good aiming, if only _she_ had harder object to hit him with. The ugly man laughed delightfully and bit down the boy's buttock hard. Yuy let out a pained sound, and Deia banged _her_ forehead hard to the metal bars. "I'LL KILL YOOU...!!!" _She_ yelled full of hatred.

Blood welled out profusely down the boy's tigh and cloths, and the man used it to wet his jutting manhood. Deia got petrified in horror, though _she_ didn't know about sex yet, _she_ knew he was up to something unforgiven. "I'll show you I aint only gonna _hand_ the bitch, _little lady_...!!" he poised behind the boy's butt.

_...I'LL KILL YOU...!!_ Deia thought hatefully, repeating the words as if a curse-spell in _her_ mind over and over, feeling a tang taste in _her_ mouth from _her_ bitten tongue, _her_ nails broke the palm skin from the tight clutches on the bars.

Yuy smelled the scent of his Human's blood in the air, and opened one of his eyes a slit at _her_, noting the hatred and anger and blood, and tears that were running freely down _her_ cheeks. When in a fraction of second he felt the man's left hand leaving his head, feeling as if in slow motion as it grabbed his other side of hips to pull his butt backward to his dripping manhood, he turned his body in a flash and let his sabercuspids out.

The man only had time to let out the first fraction of a choked gasp when the boy's mouth closed on his throat, his long fangs crushed the spines at once. Hot blood burst out, gushing to his face and the front of his chained body and down his throat, the sounds of bones and meat being crunched and the pungent smell and the taste of blood made him sicker. He closed his eyes tightly in disgust. But he kept biting and biting until there's nothing left to bite. And pulled back, half lying on the man's upper body on the floor, trying to vomit out the bits of bones and flesh and as much blood as he could that had been swallowed involuntarily. He wheezed painfully between the coughs and vomits. His senses centered unbiddenly to the incarcerated feeling in his insides.

Eventually the sounds of Deia's yells reached his awareness. _She_'d been banging the bars with _her_ hands hard enough to bruise them in _her_ anxiety and impatience. Yuy sideglanced wearily to _her_, it was the only thing he could do right now.

"Prussian..!! Prussian, come here, come to me, please...please...!!" _she_ pleaded tearfully. He just stared _her_ with darkened eyes, feeling himself dirtied by his action and the man's blood more than what could be seen. "Please come back to me, Pru... Yuy, please..!! I beg you..." _she_ kept pleading as _she_ felt the gap between their souls distanced more and more. "...I beg you...!" _she_ said brokenly between _her_ sobs.

He stared _her_ as if _she_ was a stranger.

"... dirty..." he whispered breathlessly after a long time. Deia's cries had become only sobbing murmurs by then. "...come here...!" _she_ pleaded hoarsely.

The boy stared unseeingly. Then wormed closer to where _she_ could reach him and pulled him to _her_ arms. "...dirty..." he breathed trancely again. "No..!!" Deia barked. "No, you're not..!!" _she_ said firmly. And ran to the sink with water in _her_ cupped hands. Took _her_ several times to repeat the action to wash the blood off of his face, but his hair couldn't be cleaned thoroughly and left sticky parts here and there. _She_ could only brushed the wound on his behind with the wet handkerchief and not able to tend it more properly. The bleeding had stop, though. It seemed that he was resilient to physical wounds; that is, if only he hadn't been struck by a wave-hit from the Creiss-stone. About the darn thing itself, if only _she_'d been aware enough of its pressence, _she_ should be able to save a ward to at least shield him so he wouldn't be in this bad condition by the wave-hit, or call forth one of _her_ Spells out of _her_ sanctuary before the stone cut _her_ off of the Land's Harmony. To think of that, if only _she_ was able to use the Harmony of the outerlands... if only _she_ had master the technique... if only _she_'d been strong enough to defend both of them... His safety was _her_ responsibility !

"...dir...ty..." the boy's choked whisper brought _her_ mind back to the reality. He had gone into shock, his body trembled convulsively and felt so cold like ice. Deia embraced him as best as _she_ could through the cage bars, trying to console him and lessen his shaking. The fact of a burning fever turned to ice-cold temperature in only a short time agonized _her_ mind greatly. This was far worse than the condition he was in when the mercenaries brought him to the Castile. Of course, at that time, they didn't attack him with Wave...!!

"...sshhhh...I'm here, Prussian, be safe...!" _she_ murmured over and over to his temple. The boy kept whispering weakly his one word, until it got unintelligible to _her_ ears.

"What the hell..?! Shit!" a man's voice from outside the cage made _her_ turned _her_ head, but _she_ only managed to get a glimpse of the man's foot as he ran to report what he'd seen there.

Yuy let out a soft whimper, and Deia shushed him with a kiss on his head. "...it's okay, now... I won't let anyone hurt you..!!"

A commotion heard from up the stairs at the end of the corridor. Sounds of footsteps thundered down to where they were kept. Deia took a deep breath, bracing _her_self for what was definitely to come. About ten men came to the front of the cage, they only huddled to the bars though, seemingly afraid by the scene inside the boy's cage. The ugly man's body sprawled on his back lifelessly on the floor, blood was everywhere, and although they couldn't see the decapitated neck since it was facing the woodenwall across from them, the severed head rolled a few steps from his body was the evident enough. They had weapons with them. Some stared at them -actually at _her_ Prussian- with repulsion and fear, some stared with anger on their faces. Eitherway, the judgement scale wouldn't be easy on him.

Deia stared them back with dignified air, telling them they wouldn't get pass _her_ to get him. _She_ held the small and shaking body tighter.

A curse heard from behind the men, and they cleared a path. It was the black leather man who likely their leader or superior. He scanned the scene cursorily, then stared at them. His eyes were hard as he approached them. Deia covered the boy's face with the hand encircled his head, it was the only thing _she_ could shield him with at the moment.

He stared them down. "Did he succeed on his doing?" he asked flatly, flicking his chin to the ugly man's body behind. Deia stared up at him unflinchingly. Thinking that the little girl didn't understand what he was really asking about, the man asked another question. "What did he do to him?" his chin flicked to the boy in _her_ arm. Even though he refer to _her_ Prussian as 'him', not 'it' like the mercenaries back then, his dispotition didn't approve to Deia even the slightest.

_She_ stared his eyes with cold darkened violets orbs, and _her_ lips moved slowly wording only one word, '...kill...!!'

The black leather man didn't change his hard face, he only smirked at _her_ threat after staring _her_ for sometime. "I said the buyers don't like damage goods, and I mean it..!!" he said pressing his last words loudly for his men to hear. They made a few low sounds that died down shortly. "He was a beast-tamer, or at least he liked to think so...!!" The man flicked his head to the ugly-dead-man. "'Guess he wanted to try his luck somemore!"

"Won't happen again!" he said passingly. "Take him!" and said while he turned his back to them. Two of the men came into the cage, carrying fire-spears in their hands. Deia widened _her_ eyes in anger at them.

"You would want to hold him without the bars, wouldn't you?" the man said while picking Deia's slippers from the floor. "Tell him to be still..!" he continued indicating at the boy who was baring his sharp-needle teeth at his men. Deia stared at them for sometime, then whispered something to his ear. The boy let out a low growl and hissed at them, his diluted Wild-eyes searching them unfocusedly. Deia tried a few more times. He submitted to his aching body at the end, and let them approach. They lifted his body by the rings at the sides of the cocoon-chains at eitherside of his body, using some sort of metal-claws usually hung at their waists to grip the rings.

Deia kept a hawk's eye on their every movement the whole time, until they put him down in front of _her_ feet. The black leather man put _her_ bloody slippers on the floor next to his lain body. "Shouldn't you say something like 'my parents won't let you get away with this', or something?" he asked casually.

Deia stood rigid and stared coldly, wording another '...kill..!' at him. The man laughed. "I see, you'd kill us by yourself...! Most of you said the same thing, but after some trainings they'd said something about asking us to kill them, instead...!!" he stepped out of the cage and one of his men locked it again. "They like the defiant goods like you better, though. The harder to break, the longer they could play with...!!" he laughed to himself. "Archantra's inlanders have really distinctive looks and there are many rich people who'd want to spend their money on the likes of you. Although speaking of it, I think they'd like 'taming' your beast more...!" his voice trailed off as he went back to the upper level, along with his men. "...and the operational expenses are more than anything--.." and shut down completely by the closed metal door at the end of the corridor.

Deia hurriedly came to _her_ Prussian's side and carried him to one of the inner corner across the sink, he wasn't heavy for _her_ to lift but the chains added to the weight made _her_ have to half drag his lower body on the floor. The cagerooms were originally one big cage that divided at the middle with another set of bars, at eitherside were another room with wooden walls, that were appeared to be some storage rooms. They huddled at the wooden corner, Deia tried to warm him as best as _she_ could. A small thump shifted _her_ attention to the front of the cage. A man put a basket of food and blanket from the small door at the base of the bars, then relocked it. He kept a curious apprehensive stare at the boy who was blocked by Deia's body from his sight.

"...Blanket and remedy...!" he said passingly. Deia looked fixedly at him with a deep furrow, not moving the slightest since _her_ Prussian's body was in _her_ arms. He'd stopped trembling and now only lied weakly with short shallow breaths. "He's not an ordinary Wild...!" the man said almost like to himself. "...'Scape's native shouldn't be outhere! That would mean...-" he clamped his mouth like he'd bitten his toungue in the middle of sentence. "You shouldn't have kept him too, Girl...He's bad-omen...!!" he muttered while walking back to the upper level.

"I'm _bad-temper_...!!" Deia murmured once he was gone, and shifted to grab the basket. "Are you up to eating something? I don't think they put something in it, but I don't know how they work, by the way...can you tell?" Deia lifted a bread to his face. The boy just sniffed once and contorted his face, either by his internal pain or the bread's smell. _She_ had to admit, it wasn't like what _she_ used to eat, the food looked like it's been kept for at least three days in a stormy weather, but _she_ thought they'd need the strength to escape. Yuy definitely needed the strength to recover.

_She_ tentatively took a bit of the bread with _her_ fingers, furrowed at the grains that were staring back at _her_ from the inside of the bread. "Did they make it from flour, or they floured all the ingredients in the same bowl before baking it...?!" _She_ halfheartedly put it in _her_ mouth and chewed, and force swallowed it, and drink from the running-water pouring to the sink. "...I'll have tooth-ache..!" _she_ grimaced to _her_self.

"Here, just take the blanket, Pru...!" _she_ said while spreading up the blanket in _her_ hands. It was big enough for the both of them, since it was an adult's size. Before _she_ covered his body, however, _she_ kneeled down and stared with loathe at the chains. "I think you'll be more comfortable without the chains..!!"

The boy blinked dissociatedly, trying to focus at _her_.

_...I'll try to break'em..._ he closed his eyes and tried to pull his hands apart.

"No, I mean this !" Deia cupped _her_ right hand to his face. "Never leave home without it..!!" _She_ grinned with a gleam in _her_ violet eyes, _her_ left hand pulled out a lockpick from the ribbon-band at the end of _her_ braid. "...bassically, since we cannot leave home if we didn't use it to get out of there...!" _she_ added half jokingly, thankful that _she_ didn't loose _her_ braid in the abduction, or else _she_'d loose _her_ loyal lockpick.

Deia tried to pick the chains' lock with difficulty. _She_ gave out a small yelp every now and then when _sh_e felt an electrical surge pricked _her_ fingers. Flicking them in the air and sucked them in _her_ mouth when _she_ felt the bitings got too sharp. All the time muttering incoherent curses under _her_ breath. Such electric-surge would mean nothing in the Air, if only _she_ could still use _her_ Harmony.

..._It's energy-absorbing chains...you wouldn't be effected unless you tamper with it..._ he thought tiredly.

"And you...?!" Deia muttered. "It absorbes your energy frequently..?! Then, it's the more crucial we take it off of you as soon as possible, right?!" _She_ cursed incoherently through gritted teeth as _she_ forced the damn lock open, and let a repressed squeal as it clicked. _She_ impatiently unfurled the chains around the boy's feet and let out a low "...aaack..!!" as _she_ found three more series of locks under the cocooning chains. "They're lock-fetishists or something, or what...?!" _she_ growled. Yuy blinked half-focusedly and let out a breathless snicker.

Deia glanced at his face, "You're feeling better, already...? Be a little more patient, alright ?" _she_ smiled, _her_ eyes shone a little in the dim cage.

In the end, _she_ picked of a total fifteen locks, _her_ fingers almost entirely numb and _her_ fingernails all bruised by the effort. Yuy's been mewling in empathy the halfway through it, looking more and more revived with each loop of chains loosened off of his body. The kidnappers inspected them twice the whole time, every four hours, of which Deia had faked sleeping under the blanket to cover the halfway-loosened chains from the boy the first time, the second time _she_ stared the inspectors with a hot glare. Though mostly, it's because _she_ was hungry and they really didn't give them decent food to eat.

Yuy held _her_ hands in both of his with such care, licking the fingers and willed them better. Even that Deia kept telling him that it was nothing, he had this tender sad expression on his face that made Deia wanted to cry. _She_ coaxed him to rest for a while before they'd try to escape, later after the third inspection, as _she_ couldn't pick the cage lock _she_ had to think of something else to get out. _She_ wasn't familiar with the carved-writings along the bars, but Yuy said they were such an outsider's spell that would make it impossible to escape through. Then, they only had to break through the wooden wall, right? Right..!! Like anything could be that easy! He didn't want to even touch the said wall, said something about being dirty or maybe he meant dirty-wall or something. Deia suspected its blackish-brown colour as something _she_ wouldn't want to imagine, the smell of tang that somehow still wafted from it... How did they paint the wall with _that_, anyway...?!

They huddled to the corner post, it was of a tree bough that big enough to support several levels of the huge vehicle, the bark felt warm and emanating a comforting feeling, now that _she_ thought of it. May be _she_ could try to sync with its Harmony? But that wouldn't do any good, the tree already dead, right..? Where're they taking them anyway, all _she_ realized was that they had been in there for almost five days.

Deia stared at the sink accusingly, behind the sink was a stone floor with an open drain at the back. If that was the toilet, _she_ wondered what those men's face would look like if they ever saw _her_ stand-peeing there. _She_ chuckled under _her_ breath. But then again, remembering about what the ugly-man's deeds, _she_ turned angry again. May be better not straying _her_ thoughts too much, _she_ had to think of how to escape!

_...I think you would have a good laugh...on top of the risks coming along with it.._..

Deia blinked, then looked down to Yuy's head resting in _her_ embace. His eyes were still closed as if sleeping. "You were eavesdropping my mind...!!" _she_ pouted playfully, a little flush coloured _her_ cheeks. The boy snickered breathily. "Feeling much better?" _she_ whispered.

_...five days...that long..?_

"Well, you were unconscious for the most part. You were so still the first three days, I thought you're dead!"

_...I wouldn't leave you alone like that...!_

Deia snorted. "You better not, I'll hunt you down to the next lives and give you a hell's ears of--..."

_...Is that a promise...?!_

Deia forgot _her_ words at that. _She_ silenced for a moment. "...you'd really want me to?" _she_ asked blandly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _. . . I thought it'd be nice to meat you again after I die and be reborn..._..

"...even though you could not undo your soulbond...?"

They silenced for sometime. Listening to the soft humming of the vehicle.

_...at least...I hope I'll see you again in my next life...even though you wouldn't remember me, I'll remember you.._.

"Could we not...talk about this right now...?" Deia said feebly.

_...I'm sorry I didn't have whole soul to give you--..._...

"I said not now, Yuy..!!" Deia half barked the low voiced words. _She_ grited _her_ teeth, feeling angry at _her_self for being angry and hurt. Yuy was as sincere as he could ever be, giving _her_ all he's left, but _she_ was too greedy for wanting more. The void in _her_ that could never be filled. Was that what it felt to be always be halve...?

"Have you ever... met your-bonded...? Like...in the pastlives or something..."

A sad acceptant of negation answered _her_ from the boy's mind. _She_ felt a squeezing in _her_ heart..._ -to search in all eternity for their halves-..._ _She_ frowned.

"Like, may be...you've met but you didn't realize it..."

Yuy smiled with distant eyes _...my bond is special...it's one-sided...!_

Deia widened _her_ eyes. "Then...your-bonded is..." _she_ searched _her_ mind, what he'd said when he talked about the Mourns. "...free-soul...?" _she_ sighed the words weakly.

"—But that would mean that your-b--..." _she_ gasped.

The prussian orbs opened up to _her_. _...has 'own lives...yes, I'm only an outsider of Fate to the-One...!_

"...Aren't... aren't you..lonely...?!"

He smiled soulfully. _...I'm happy...my soul-purpose is only to find the-One and see that the-One's happy... even that..._.. his face turned to a slack mask.

_...that the-One had already bonded to someone else..._. His body fell slack in _her_ embrace. Even though he said he had lifetimes' age, but his now small child's heart couldn't bear the emotion sucking it like a maelstrom to the deepest cavity the world knew as personal-hell.

Deia felt the small slack body trembled again, not by physical pains, if _she_ didn't know better _she_'d think that he was crying. _She_ maneuvered him to face _her_ and embraced him tightly, sending _her_ scattered happyness that somehow both of them were there, together and alive. _She_ rocked him gently, feeling like a hypocrite brat for only thinking of _her_ feelings about his circumstances.

"...we have to get out of here, Pru..!" _she_ whispered when his body felt warmer in _her_ arms. "I don't want to know what they stored for us...!!" -_...I don't want to know what they'd do to you...!_

The boy didn't give any response for a long time. He let out a soft krrrck when Deia thought he had fallen asleep. It was a long time since _she_ heard that sound. _She_ smiled.

_...there's someone here..._. he thought silently, that someone warned him about the ugly-man before, he felt like he knew the someone from a longtime ago. Felt familiar like the sunlight...

_...if you could trust me with your life..._. his thought trailed off. Deia furrowed. "I trusted you with my death, why wouldn't I trust my life to you...!!" _she_ said a little grated.

_Right..._. he smiled to himself, feeling stupid with his low self-esteem, but needing the rememberance none the less. _...then, close your eyes...!_ And with that warning he covered Deia's mouth with his, each hand at eitherside of _her_ temple as if making sure _she_ didn't see anything, and he opened his owned-space. And the bough swallowed them as they let themself fell backward. And all _she_ could feel was like falling in an endless pit of cool-flames, and centered _her_ senses to his as _she_ thought this was like their usual sharing.

Then gasped as they got to an abrupt stop of the fall. _She_ moaned a question feeling a little heady and nauseant. _She_ opened _her_ eyes slowly and saw a blur of Yuy's form staring down at _her_ from above _her_ face. He bloomed a smile, his prussian eyes glinted with affection. _...You'll survive !_

Deia blinked, and frowned. _'...shouldn't that be my words...?!'_ _she_ said to _her_self in _her_ heart. When _she_ cleared _her_ vision again, _she_ realized they were lying in a different room. The louder humming sound and the constant shaking of the floor told _her_ that they were still in the same vehicle.

"...This is...-?!" _The upper level, above the cage-rooms..._ Yuy finished _her_ sentence. Deia sweatdropped in disbelief. "...ho...how...? When...?!" _she_ tried to sit up, and as _her_ body suddenly felt like a little quake-drunk(4) _she_ almost hit _her_ head, if only the boy didn't slide his body behind _her_ to cushion _her_ fall. _She_ looked a bit stunned for a while, then gave a shaky smile that developed to a little incredulous chuckles. "...That...don't..." _she_ wheezed.

"...Don't tell me we _traveled_ through THAT...!!" _she_ pointed to the bough that was the corner's post.

_Yes_. The boy thought simply.

Deia let out a sound of half-panic hysteria, _her_ mouth resembled a fish out of water. That was something that _her_ mind could not process. Then stilled. "...I...don't want to know how...!! Just don't tell me...!" _she_ waved _her_ hands in the air. And manage to stand without banging _her_ head to any solid object.

_...there's this...someone..._. Yuy thought. "I said I don't want to know...!!" Deia breathed exasperatedly, noting the room they were in was likely the janitor's closet.

_... something like 'tree' or 'three'..._.(5) he thought as if saying to himself. "Noooo...!! I don't want to know, Pruuuu...!" Deia covered _her_ ears with both hands, making an over-dramatic headshake vigorously.

_...who was likely been captured too, and letting us escape through their exit...!_

Deia stilled. "Really...?!" _she_ asked him seriously. Yuy nodded. "Then, we should thank--..." _she_ stopped as Yuy shook his head slowly. Deia blinked, _her_ face shadowed. "...that someone didn't make it?" He just stared. "Ooh..." _she_ mumbled.

_...that someone got away first, not in this vehicle anymore...!_

Deia frozed instantly. "...Don't...make me feel like riding an emotional whirlwind, Yuy..!" _she_ grinned agitatedly. _'Good to wake up your body's awareness...!_ He pointed with his chin with a playful smile.

"I get the feeling that you're making fun of me...!" _she_ pouted at his back, but complied silently when the boy signaled _her_ to get out of the small room. His sharp senses gave them full advantage of the surroundings, they got to the outer level without any major incident. The vehicle was of something like a massive ship of wood and metal, although it was moved by chain-wheels. By the looks of the amount of armory fixed to the hull, the hunters had a very rough life at their daily works. Deia frowned. _'...What kind of __thing__ they use __that__ to shoot at...?!_' _she_ peered at the three giant stakes ready to be fired in their giant metal bows, at the front of the vehicle.

It was dark, since it was nighttime. As an Archantra inlander, although _she_ never been subjected to such darkness before, _she_ could manage _her_ way just smoothly. Yuy sideglanced at _her_ every now and then, noting that even his Human didn't equiped with dark-vision, _she_ could 'feel' _her_ surroundings as perfectly as seeing. Must be something to do with _her_ harmony, because in the darkness of _her_ Spell, they could see objects just as perfectly.

They got to the edge of the hull. Yuy froze and widened his eyes in denial.

_...this...can't be...They brought me back...--?!_ He stared unseeingly at the black gap under the huge vehicle. The massive thing was running on a narrow earth-bridge crossing the unbelievable wide gap of the earth's surface. The depth of the cavity he knew almost unendingly if you ever fall to it. Far down, he could see the blur of silhouetted tower-like rocks, jutting as if trying to stab the unreachable sky with their pointed ends. He felt an unbearable cold runing down his spines.

Deia looked up and widened _her_ eyes in disbelief. Up in the air were masses of earth floated stagnantly far above them, they were shaped like ragged broken round-shells with holes wrecked their shapes, giving anyone under those masses some windows to see through. Deia stood mesmerized when _she_ saw some glimpses of the stars in the nightsky. Then without a sound, bright beams of sharp silver-light poured down on _her_ through the holes, _she_ blocked _her_ eyes with _her_ hand at the sudden intrusion. As the huge vehicle moved along the bridge, _she_ eventually saw the source of the offending light. A monstrous big round moon stared _her_ down like a lidless deity. And felt a shock crashed down on _her_ whole being, unforgiving and unrelenting.

_She_ tried to breath, but couldn't, feeling like _her_ body being clenched in an invisible monstrous hand. '...Pru...!' _she_ mouthed. Cold surge of hatred and pains clawed _her_ from the inside, corroding _her_ existence with unavoidable force. _She_ felt like disappearing.

"...Yu..." _she_ managed a choked sound. Then half aware of _her_ body falling from the edge of the metal fence down to where a welcoming darkness spread.

Yuy heard the choked whisper, and snapped his head at where his Human should be, behind him. Widened his eyes as he saw his Human's body plunged down into the abyss. Without thinking he jumped down to _her_.

Inside of a watching post, a man watched silently as the two children disappeared from sight. He narrowed his eyes, his face was hard. "...Bad-omen...!" he murmured to himself.

Deia felt _her_ consciousness slipped from _her_, but _she_ was aware of a large white-wing covered _her_ from the silver-light of the moon. Then _she_ let _her_ eyes closed.

_...wing..._ was _her_ last thought to _her_self. And then blackness.

---------------

---------------

-shæ: a title to call the Charms, it's mostly mean 'senior', or 'sempai' in japanese. Shæyuä : almost means 'older brother', originally means 'someone older (than me)'; Archantran language.

three-ball; an inlander's toy/child's play, it was of a mainball about twice the size of tennisball with small bells inside, and two satelite-balls that hover around the mainball in tune with the chiming of the bells, they can be kicked or hit far but will float back to its orbits around the mainball.

naqta; a Castile's weapon, shaped like a stick. With small hexagonal-star shaped blades hidden in the outer ends, and flat/common blades in the inner-ends/body of stick. The stick could be separated into two by the middle. The hexagonal-star blades would leave such teared wound that wouldn't stop bleeding easily, bassically like a bayonet. Made of white metal.

saru meant an extreme case of jet-lag

...'think you know who it was. hehee..


	14. forbidden sky

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku april 10, 2007 **

comic-work's been hellishly slow...got no time and no money to upload new chapters. sorry for the late update

**# 14 Forbidden Sky**

_Cotton-winds and Frisks(1)...Faultiers(2) and Fragmenterussä(3)_

_all the whispering things and dewy-smelled... Fine-grass, Lilia-of-nightshade-circles(4), and Murky-augury(5)_

_something sweet and succulent... fresh baked mimosa-cake, Alfercornéttes(6) and Frŭssanschiä(7), Elderberries-of-the-sixth-crowned-cubes(8)_

_cool and windy twilight where the Lady's-Dusk(9) sets behind the so many layers of the Stratus_

_the Covet-song of the Virtuosa-Fairs(10) and Long-bow Journeys' stories(11)_

_Aurifera-flamechests(12) and Obscury-morphos(13)_

_the sounds of water-chime in the garden and Rűii-naqta's music(14)..._

_the things I loved the most since the early time of my life..._

_the first memories before I started asking 'why can't I be myself'..._

'_mother' was never in my reminiscent...never was and never will...just a remembrance that I was a killer since birth, that one word they all loved and venerated so much..._

_...I missed myself...!!_

_Somebody please call my name...didn't I have one...?_

_...didn't I have a name, pretty Obscuries...?_

_...don't I deserve a name too...? _

---------------

The winds felt like razorblades! These hostile and frosty currents he knew like his own bloodflows.

_...He'd been careless...!! And now his Human had to take the consequences too. Why couldn't he realize sooner where those hunters were taking them to...?!_

_Don't need this...!! Don't need this ignorant self...!! This filthy and mortal and useless--...!_

...and the white-wing spread. That was his last mind's awareness...

---------------

Deia came to after a long empty blackness claimed _her_ consciousness. All _her_ body ached and felt like had been ground by Howard's medicine-grinder. _Her_ clotches felt heavy and wet whether by the moist air or _her_ cold-sweat, and _she_ felt the numerous scrapes and cuts that were bleeding mildly. They were slightly biting but only when _she_ tried to move. _Her_ fringes plastered to _her_ forehead and caked by congealing blood. _She_ touched _her_ stinging left temple and found some neatly intervaled cuts that were most likely caused by a wild creature's claws or teeth.

_She_ hissed with pain when the tender skin around the cuts gave an unforgiving sting, _her_ fingers felt wet.

'..._oh, great!! I'm juicy...!_' –is it infection, or poisoned...?

_She_ frowned as _her_ awareness found similar cuts on _her_ arms and legs, and didn't dare to move in fear that _she_ was poisoned and moving too much would accelerate the poison's work. _She_ let _her_ left arm fell back to the side of _her_ head.

Something nagged _her_ mind. The blowing winds told _her_ that _she_ was moving in a fair speed.

...Something felt familiar...!

_Her_ head felt like burning and an Ulotrichous-quake(15) friskly jumping from one braincell to another in lightspeed. _She_ carefully breathed knowing a light tremor would wake somemore Ulotrichous-quakes that would happily making _her_ brain as their playground...

Deia gave a tiny smirk to _her_self tiredly. _She_ could think of ridiculous things at this condition meant _she_'s not dying..._yet_, probably.

...something felt familiar and comforting...but desperate at the same time...!!

_She_ frowned again slowly at the perfect-black nightsky. There's something _she_'d forgotten. Something important and crucial and only one...

'..._only one...!_' –he'd called his-bonded as the-One... _her_ floating mind thought half awarely.

_She_ blinked and focused.

'_Prussian...!!_' Deia straightened _her_ upper body up, or tried to, actually. The sudden groggy movement jarred _her_ potential-pains to wake and _she_ dropped _her_ body from _her_ halfway rise, letting out breath from _her_ clenched teeth as _she_ couldn't afford to groan. After several deep bracing-breaths, _she_ tried to sit up again slow and carefully. _She_ managed to prop _her_ upper body on _her_ elbows eventually.

_Her_ breath labored and shortened by the pains. But the empathic pains were greater at the moment, _she_ whimpered once and reached out to the brown-haired head lied on _her_ stomach, face down.

"...Pru...?" _she_ managed to whisper. And straightened _her_ body with difficulty. The said boy didn't move a fraction on _her_ front, _she_ embraced his head carefully, gave a small mewling sob as she noticed the uncountable deep cuts on his back, some were larger than the cuts on _her_.

So some _things_ attacked them when _she_ blacked out, and he'd shielded _her_ with his small body. His blood soaked _her_ clotches red.

Deia took a wet sniff once. "...Hey, prussian, don't scare me like this...!" _she_ pleaded. His body felt colder than the night. _She_ couldn't hold back _her_ frustration and anger and the helpless feeling, and started to cry silently, holding the boy's head like a broken treasure.

_She_'d said _she_ wanted to be stronger for both of them...!!

...something felt familiar and comforting...

_Her_ sobbing ebbed gradually, as _she_ felt the pressence of the one _she_ desperately wanted to be with, and eventually looked around them. _She_ stilled as _she_ took the surroundings.

They were flying in great speed, a large white-wing spread at _her_ left, most likely the thing _she_ dropped _her_ left arm on. There was no similar wing on _her_ right. The soft and warm velvety strong back _she_ was riding on, the white-flame of mane in front of _her_... _she_ swallowed once.

They were riding on the back of a one-winged... fire-horse...?!

As if knowing _her_ baffled thoughts, the said white horse cocked its head to one side, sideglancing at _her_. Its eye was like a clear white-sky with a pure-white sun burning as the iris with unbelievable dazzling striations that would make you see blind-spots for some moments after seeing it. The clear-shell of armor floating in front of its head and along its muzzle was something _she_ thought _she_ had seen before.

The horse straightened its head forward again as if not really caring about them. The tufts on its fetlocks were of the similar white-flame as its mane, _she_ bet the tail too but _she_ didn't want to twist _her_ agonizing body to comfirm that. The white-wing was like a liquid-fire when _she_ touched it, _she_ could even ran _her_ fingers in it when _she_ meant to. The comforting feeling...

_She_ definitely had seen it before, that clear-shell... it was the thing that had trapped Odin and his warsteed on the boundaries of the Land. The thing 'Thrice' said that could stop the timeflow inside. That was the boy's--... Deia blinked again.

...The desperate feeling was...

And tightened _her_ embrace on his unmoving body. "Are you that worried about me, My-Death...? I won't die unless you kill me...we promised that...!"

Rested _her_ chin on his head, and closed _her_ eyes, feeling another wave of guilts and helplessness wrecked _her_ heart again.

_She_ was suppose to be his-Life, after all... and all _she_ had managed so far was exposing him to dangers without being able to do anything to help the situation or mend his agonizing body to life.

_...just a liar...!!_

---------------

"I can't belief they are this pigheaded...!!" 'Seventh' threw both arms in the air, and flung them one by one, casting Wave-orbiculars as randomly as the mite-like enemies were crawling endlessly all around them.

"They're insect-headed...!" 'Thrice' said matter-of-factly but sounded indifferent at the same time.

"Is that a joke, or is it even the time to laugh...?!" 'Seventh' yelled between the loud hiss of the enemies' projectiles that were leaving long tails of whitesmoke in the air everywhere.

"I need a freezing bath...!" the teenager-Charms said flatly.

"This is not the time for bathing...!!" his older-in-appearance comrade yelled incredulously, casting Wave-orbiculars more rapidly. There's something definitely wrong with this flock of OWLs, it was as if they were driven into madness and racing with each other to die first, even knowing they couldn't penetrate the Charms defense force into the Land's territory. 'Seventh' sniffed once, brushing his sweat-drenched face with his sleeve. "Well...essentially, I could use a nice warm bath, too, at this moment...!" he mumbled to himself. They'd been fending the frontline since three days ago nonstop, and the heat of the battles began to exhaust them. In 'Thrice''s case maybe the heat of the desert.

"I'm naturally a nocturnal, so cold bath works better for me...!" came the flat indifferent retort.

"Do we really have to converse about THIS...?!" 'Seventh' flung his arms casting bigger Wave-orbiculars frustratedly.

"Both of you, focused to the tasks at hand...!!" came an admonishing telepathy from their present field-leader.

"...Yesssh..., 'Octonary'-shæ...!" 'Seventh' muttered under his breath. Just as he finished his words, he realized 'Thrice' abruptly stopped accelerating his Wave, staring half-trancedly to the openlands to his left.

"What are you doing, Ankhiie(16)...?! Don't stop 'waving' now...!!" 'Seventh' waved his arms casting his frustration-Wave out.

"...someone's...approaching desperately...!" 'Thrice' murmured breathily. His third-eye already saw the distant vision. Before 'Seventh' could formulate another question, the teenager-Charms shot out in a blur of whitelight.

"...inform Chieftain...!" was his only shared mind.

---------------

Deia coughed dryly, feeling the fever grilling _her_ body from the inside was hotter than the desert's sunlight. Still, _she_ bended _her_ upper body as to shade the boy's head from the sun, _her_ outer tunic was spread on his back to cover his open wounds. Yuy didn't wake the whole two days of their horse-riding escape.

A whitelight approached them in a flash. Deia brightened as _she_ knew who that was, that means the Land was near. _She_ didn't miss the Air; more than anything, the boy in _her_ arms definitely didn't need it the slightest, but the comfort of a place called home _she_ did need. Especially now.

'Thrice' noted immediately the white-flame horse that was running in the wind, despite its legs that were galloping low just above the desert grounds; the fact that it didn't leave any tracks or trails of kicked dusts and sands spoke for itself.

"I've told the other to call Chieftain...!" he said without any greeting, turned in his way to flash at their side. "There're some activities outside the territory, we just have to run through it..!"

Deia nodded once. The dark coloured-flock on the grounds far in front of them didn't pique _her_ interest, _her_ concentration now was only to stay conscious and to get the boy to have some proper treatments immediately.

"I'll shield off the smoke they launched everywhere, might be poisons we know nothing of, but just in case, you should have your own ward up!" he had taught _her_ some techniques of outland's harmony.

"We got hit by a Creiss-stone...!" Deia said flatly. The teenager-Charms only blinked once and nodded. Though he'd had taught _her_ how to fend off the Creiss-stone attacks too, he didn't say anything about it. He flashed to their front acting like a spear's head. "Understood..!" was his only verbal answer after that. He accelerated the Wave around him, all the time didn't lessen the speed, making a transparent air-wall around them that could be seen like a low horizontal-shooting comet even by commoners' eyes.

They shot through the on-going battle, making a deep track in the sands and a cleared path of the mite-like OWLs and smokes straight to the Land.

---------------

Their father had been hell-ragingly mad, he'd slapped _her_ once, something he'd never done before, then he crushed _her_ flat in his strong embrace. _Her_ exhausted and aching body decided that the punishment was really the crushing-hug instead of the stunned slap on _her_ right cheek. _Her_ face was inflamed here and there that a slap didn't effect it much in a wide range of appearence, only busted _her_ lips corner a little. Lyea wiped _her_ face clean in the smallpool of warm water in _her_ bathroom, of which _she_ insisted that _she_ could do it by _her_self, saying that she better be treating Yuy instead. In any case, _she_ could be poisoned and _she_ didn't want to contaminate her too.

They separated them in their own beds for two days, Deia was dead-tired by the time _she_ dropped _her_ head on the fluffy pillow and fell asleep in an instant. Yuy didn't wake still.

The funny thing was, noone ever mentioned about the fire-horse when _she_ woke up. As if it's just erased from everyone's sight. No, memory-blockade. _She_ knew such a thing existed, but never something that worked in the present, like you saw the horse but it didn't enter your mind. The Charms could manipulate brainwave for a similar result, only it's just a barricade to prevent the memory to resurface, not something that rejected by your rationality as if something that was not from this reality. Or maybe that's exactly the case, it's not from _this_ reality.

---------------

The violet orbs darkened in unpleasant burning, the silvery-purple brows creased deeper. If looks could incinerate things, the book in the rigid hands would be ashed by now.

The sound of the library doors opened and closed. The sounds of things dropped instantly to the floor.

"...D...DEIAAAA, WHAT'RE YOU READING...?!!!" came the voice of a shocked Lyea by the doors.

The said person didn't even lift the eyes from the bookpages. The bold title on the cover read 'COPULATION' and the smaller writings at the lower side read 'ADULT ONLY' stared back at Lyea unflinching and unashamedly.

It even had illustrations in there...what that dead ugly-man was going to do to _her_ Prussian was--...

The rigid hands clapped the book close and unceremoniously tossed it on the table. The face was a cold burning mask, scowling at the thing as if finding it guilty and condemning it to seventieth hell. Lyea immediately found that it was the-_other_'s face. They silenced for some times.

"...D'you think..." the silvery-purple haired spoke first, "...that they'd used h--..." gritted hiss, "...like _that_..?!"

-_I'm used to be used_- was what he intended to say two years ago, in the blackness of the sanctuary.

". . . . . . . . I don't know, Dearest..! You should ask Yuy that yourself!"

The violet eyes snapped at her in irritation. She stared back calmy. The-_other_'s face contorted in disgust and annoyance. Not really hellish-mad, Lyea noted, perhaps not yet.

"Guessing what you don't actually know had happened in the past would only torturing your mind, Dearest...! The least you could do is to not let anything of your fears happening in the present and future..!!"

"Are you saying that--...!!"

"What would you do if that's true? Hunt them down to wherever they're hiding?"

"You bet I'll hunt every one of them down and CASTRATE those bastards..---!!!"

"Really..?" Lyea asked calmy. The violet orbs gleamed at her with the rage that couldn't be lashed out at the intented bastards. She stared back with serenity. "It doesn't matter now. Digging it, you'd only clawing his wounds open...!"

The rigid hands trembled with anger at each side of the body.

"It doesn't matter, Dearest! Whether it's true or not...! What's matter now is that he's okay...is he okay now, Dearest...?" Lyea could dictate people without sounding like it. Or may be in this case, since the-_other_ was still fuming without any tangible target that it returned to the-_other's_-self that easily.

A low hiss, the violet orbs that were staring the floors wavered by emotions. "...I know.." the only murmured answer before the slivery-purple long braid disappeared behind the doors, leaving Lyea alone with her deep sigh.

---------------

Howard knocked the black doors softly, and stepped in when they opened by themselves. On the chair almost a couple of meters to the big canopy bed he saw the indifferent-faced Deia, slouching with both hands on the armrests and dangled to the sides, one knee rested on the other. _She_ looked...pissed, if he could say; but calmly so.

"...Howard..!" came the apathetic greeting from the chair's occupant. He knew it from the presence's-scent that it wasn't _her_. "Child...!" he smiled and greeted _her_ back. "How is Yuy's improvement?" he tried to sound casually.

"See for yourself...!" _she_ flicked _her_ chin to indicate the permission. The old-Charms gave a little nod and approached the bed silently, and frowned to himself when the boy's condition came to his sight. Yuy was lying restlessly under the soft plushy blankets, he looked so small and fragile that almost like drowned in the bedding. His breath was shalow and short and tortured, his black-armor wasn't protecting him from the Air, with skin ghostly bruised all over, the cuts and scrapes hidden by the bandage on his forehead. He was lain on his side, facing Deia's chair, since the wounds on his back still wet by the seeping blood. They tried outlands medicine, because they know the medicine from natural plants in the Land had the similar poisons as the Air, but it didn't stop the bleeding for the least. Beads of coldsweat made rivulets down his face, wetted his clotches and the bedding.

"...nothing, hu?" he mumbled softly. "I heard you spent the whole noon with the soldiers on the Stone-field..!" and said conversingly. The chair's occupant only gave a small snort in return. "You _played_ with Commander Crüdeo..._again_...!!" Howard snickered. "You shouldn't toy him like that, you know...he's a commander after all, he needs to have his self-esteem intact, especially in front of his men!" _-...and his dignity!_ He thought to himself; _the poor man needed it for his own's sake._

"...-all his men that were also toyed by me...?" the-other said indifferently, _she_ was the one who taught Yuy to use the naqta after all, the boy was a natural dancer, he fight gracefully like dancing, with his beast's strength it was a graceful dance of death. Howard chuckled at that, he had to admit Deia was a natural fighter, all the more since _she_ was actually a--...

"I wanted to kill the brat, actually...!"

Howard blinked, the lower-than-usual voice sounded colder and acrimonious it bit his awareness a little. "...Brat..?" His heart pounded involuntarily.

"That little 'good-for-nothing smiling hypocrite acting princessy to everyone' brat...!" albeit the voice sounded apathetic still, but the dark feeling emitted from _her_ presence made the old-Charms felt cold.

"...-who..?"

"You know who, don't act like you think I don't hate _her_, Howard...!!" the darkened violet eyes shifted from the boy in the bed to Howard's eyes, they spoke of the darkness that everyone kept them in, all this time. Howard only stared _her_ stunnedly, it dawned on him with a great force what those words meant, what they all had done with the real child slouching on the plushy chair in front of him.

The old-Charms stared unwaveringly, looking straight at the darkened empty eyes. He fell silent for a long time, when he turned his head back to see the boy's face he worded his understanding without a voice. '...you hate Deia!'. So the child was not a child anymore, beginning to ripe to an adolescent with each breath taken. The breath they all had forced to be boxed in a conditioned life, between the prejudice and death consequences.

Had they done wrong? Did they make the child had split personalities or anything...?! Or something worse? Would _they_ be separated even farther with the passing time? They know teenage girls and boys are FAR different...especially when _they_ started to reach puberty--...

A soft snort. "You think too much, Howard! Everybody wanted to kill themselves sometimes...!"

Howard's head snapped to _her_. _She_ was staring Yuy's agonized face apathetically. "Not suicide, just kill...you know what I mean!" And stood, approaching the big white bed and slumped next to him unceremoniously. "May be I took him in for replacing my-self, don't you think, Howard...?!"

"Child..." Howard's old eyes saw the ancient pains radiating from the little _girl_.

"I want to try something, I know this is not your job but could you please fetch some fresh sheets and blankets for me?" _she_ asked nicely, even though _her_ slight smile didn't reach _her_ eyes. Howard nodded. He could do nothing to help the boy, after all.

_Her_ white hand brushed the cold sweating face gently, half listening to the sound of the doors closed when Howard leaving the chamber. _She_ kissed the restless forehead leisurely, cherising the boy's will to survive somehow still radiated from his core, although it wavered sometimes by the sheer agony his physical element was enduring. His determination burnt like a restive shimmering flame of a melting candle that was his body.

'..._I feel you...!_' _she_ thought, started to accelarate _her_ Harmony in _her_ core. '_I wanted to get stronger for both of us...but in reality I couldn't even be strong enough for you..!_' _her_ Harmony spread to _her_ presence wholy, it felt like a warm blanket shielding _her_ soul, _she_ wished soulfully it were a shield for him too. '_I will...!! I'll get stronger, I vow to my soul!_' _her_ quivering lips smiled on his forehead.

'_So just this once...just one more time, bear with me...?!_'

In the soiled darkness he heard the soft echoing thought, he'd been waiting for it in his chains. It was so dirty he couldn't surface his own awareness, too many impurities, too many grudges. If he were a bit stronger than this, he could fight his way up, this impurity was still wasn't strong enough to bind him with. If only he was stronger to fight all odds; it wasn't like he never lived in poisonous environments before, the OWL's 'Scape was hell compared to this land; it wasn't like he never fought such impurity before, he had survived far greater ones compared to this. It was just simply because he's not strong enough right now..in this lifetime...

..._want to get stronger_...

'..._Forgive my failure!_' the echo reverberated like a breeze for him to breathe.

..._tsuyokunaritai_... he let himself be pulled up.

---------------

Howard came back to Deia's chamber as fast as he could. Somehow his mind told him that _she_ was up to something, even that _she_'d mean it for good but the fact that _she_'s still only a child grew him alarmed. In a wider perspective maybe it was him that was thinking of _her_ like his own...no, not _her_...the child, the real-one behind Deia's mask. Maybe because he'd once wanted a son long ago. His huried steps stopped before Deia's doors, he felt the Harmony accelarated from inside the chamber, it's Deia's he recognized. But the strong determination it carried almost made his heart stopped. Harmony-wave that strong could wound the boy just easily when he's in his usual condition, it could kill him just like that in his worse state as of now..!!

"Lady Dee...?!" he banged the door, noting that the black wooden panels were tempered with strong ward to keep anyone stayed outside, even a senior harmony-user like himself.

A series of painful choked-wheezings were heard from the inside of the chamber loud enough to penetrate the thick doors. Howard stopped his banging and listened in alarm. The wheezings followed by the sound of heavy vomits between the wet gurgles and agonical moans, they continued to the state that the heavy vomiting followed by violent gushing sounds of liquid frequently; it made his blood turned cold. Howard gulped and banged the doors with more urgency, calling the chamber's owner, only to have no answer.

When the sounds eventually stopped and the doors opened by themselves, a gory sight greeted him when he rushed to the bedroom. The white bedding was almost dyed with blackened-red liquid, there were some clotted masses scattered on the once white-sheet as if they had been thrown up violently, some of the liquid were dripping from the bedding to the stone floor. His eyes traced the red tracks on the carpet and floor that disappeared by the bathroom's doors, he unceremoniously dropped the sheets and blankets in his hands to one of the chairs and hurried to the said doors.

---------------

_She_ sat in warm water with the boy lied limply reclining to _her_ body, _her_ left arm secured him encircling his body by the waist, the other hand pouring some water that gathered by _her_ palm and washed his bloodstained face gently. Keeping his head rested on _her_ shoulder with _her_ cheek, all the time humming a lullaby _she_ knew he loved very much. His breaths were not shallow and restless anymore, they had calmed and turned to weary wheezes once in a while, all in all they were of deeper inhalations now.

"Lady Dee..!!" Howard banged the doors opened in haste. _She_ looked up with a calm relieved face and put _her_ forefinger on _her_ lips, wording 'He's asleep!'. The old-Charms froze in his track, noting the small pool's water had turned a maroon shade. The flushed colour seeped to their clotches, with exception on Deia's back that was dyed thickly. From the looks of it, _she_ was holding him in _her_ embrace when the boy threw up the blood, with his chin on _her_ shoulder. Parts of _her_ silvery-purple hair glued by the clots.

"..Towels?" _she_ whispered. The stunned Howard only blinked several times, as if adjusting his eyes to a bright sudden light. _She_ sighed, then stood up, carrying the boy's flaccid body to where the towels hung by the hangers on the walls. _She_ wrapped one to him and put one on _her_self like a heavy veil. A repressed shrill from the bedroom informed _her_ that someone else was there.

"I'm sorry to give you more hardworks to do...!" _she_ said to the maids that were shockstrickened by the bed's state. The five maids that had gathered there turned their heads to _her_ in the same time. _She_ was holding the boy's towelled body upright with his head still resting on one of _her_ shoulder, with one hand under his bended knees leaving his feet dangled. He looked sickly weary but they could see that he was sleeping soundly in _her_ arms. It was a dearing sight before the previous gruesome vision.

"We'll be sleeping in his bed for tonight, so you don't have to force yourselves cleaning the mess right away...!" _she_ smiled understandingly. That woke the maids from their shocks. "Lady Deia, are you underestimating us?! We've been cleaning the messes you made before you knew how to spell the word! Well, most of them...!" the older maid said while rolling her sleeves. Deia chuckled heartily, "You're right! Thankyou for your efforts, Ruéa..!!". The older maid nodded once satisfactorily and then gave orders to the other younger maids like a commander in a battlefield. They had to change the carpet and beddings including the bed itself, after all. Well, they had to change the pool's water too, come to think of it.

---------------

"...-he kept saying 'dirty' afterwards. At first I didn't guess what he meant, but he said something similar about the purposely blood-painted wall that he didn't even want to touch,...and when I think of it later, that blood must had so many hatred and grudges within, and it dawned on me that he feels such things almost like tangible matters,...so I think I had to get the dirty blood he'd swallowed involuntarily out, it's poisoning him!" Deia brushed _her_ long mane with the towel, the end of _her_ bathrobe swept the floor as _she_ walked.

"You remember I made him spewing out blood all over me the first time, when I said I was only wanted to alleviate his pains somewhat..?" _she_ smiled tiredly, actually it was _her_ heart that was weary. Howard nodded recalling the first time he saw the boy on the floor of _her_ chamber. "Old-din said he'd breathed deeper after that, but I was too shaken up at the time I didn't think of it from the right view. Still, I feel like I've put him in pains intentionally, but it's not really a sick feeling anymore...I can hate myself the right way now, don't you think, How-ward..?!"

The old-Charms only nodded numbly mumbling something unintellegent under his breath. Perhaps _she_ really gave him a heart attack, _she_ thought. "I think you need a drink, How-ward...!!" _she_ chuckled. He just gave another mumbling sound to himself. _She_ disappeared in the wardrobe room for sometime.

"Chieftain...!!" a low yell came from the terrace corridor, a Charms stood there with a calm bothered face. (Now, you'd wonder how he could make such an expression) "I've been calling you for the past 20 minutes, but my telepathies didn't reach you the slightest...!!"

Howard stared him, "...Uhh...I guess so..!" and muttered as if to himself. The Charms outside the window only snorted. Deia stuck _her_ head out the wardrobe-room's doors, the Charms gave a slow small bow to _her_, "Forgive my rudeness, Milady..!"

"Something urgent?" _she_ asked understandingly. He gave a respectful nod, "The General's down!"

---------------

The human-soldiers usually camped outside the Land's barrier, just outside the Forest, the Charms' posts were at the outeredges of them, making a shield for the soldiers from the enemies' invisible weapons such as poisons that the OWLs usually used. The white-smoke they released through air was poisons, just as they thought, but it was actually somekind of vessel for something else to move in. That something was only seaking for one person who was the leader of the Land's army, The General, and even the Charms' preventive actions didn't see through it.

It was because when worse come to worst, the inlanders wouldn't let The General out of the Land's protection, judging from his connection with the Land's Lord, and that way come their funerals, along with his. But it wasn't necessarily to be The General, anyone from the Lord's inner-circle would do, that was why he was so terrified when the mercenaries caught his-Human and brought them both to the OWL's territory.

He knew...

He should have known they would sort to this kind of tricks once Colle' came all the way up to find him two years ago. He should've warned the humans. It was just simply because he didn't want to be judged. When you hatched in the OWL's 'Scape, you were either food or possession. Both of which he didn't find very pleasing to be. When you're a possession, you'd be used as weapons in times, not necessarily active weapon for attacking, but you could be a dormant tool to infiltrate a secluded habitation and take it down from the inside.

But that theory kind of leaving a dent in the how-to-use of him as a tool to bring down the Land, didn't it? Since they brought him along out of the targeted land... No, that would mean that they wanted his-Human to survive, for something he didn't know about. Right, that would explain why they waited for two years to use _it_. But why now? The OWLs had attacked them with every intention to kill when his-Human was on the outer land too two years ago.

...No! He's not seeing it from the right view. The OWLs that day were mostly spies, judging from their eyes-'_companions_'. But spies were always scattered everywhere and usually didn't attack in a large group, not to mention that they were usually almost didn't attack at all because they were needed to gather informations, if anything should happen they would instinctly choose to flee instead. So why did they attack all of them blindly with no concern of their lives, without even confirming their identities first? It was as if something pushed them out of urgency. What was something urgent that day? Something out of the habitual was...Colle'!! Colle' never leave the underground for ages, and his objective was...him?! True, Colle' didn't really had to hand him the crystal-pendant, it was something of no small importance to him since he kept it secured on his body, right? He tied it to the hair behind his nape, and he never showed his back to anyone, so that spoke a lot, right?

Wait! No, that still didn't make sense...Judging Colle's character, he would only make him as diversion or bait. That must be it! Colle' must've done something that stirred the 'Scape and pointed them to him, that's why the mercenaries took him along with his-Human. If they only wanted goods for sale then they wouldn't have brought him too. ...Uhm, not really, he was green-haired at the time...!

. . . . . . . . . ._can't think properly right now...do one thing at a time...!_

Right...!

"Yuy...!!" A surprised sound of Lyea brought him out of his strayed thoughts. As he spread his senses out to his whole body again, he realised he was standing precariously by the door, putting all his weight on both hands holding the doorhandle. Just at the time, he lost his balance and the doorpanel swung open wider letting him plunged down forward.

A strong arm stopped his fall at his waist. "Weren't you suppose to be unconscious still...?!" The Lord asked him.

He stared at his fade-blue eyes for sometimes, noting the concern in them. "...sir...!" he whispered weakly. Deia was 'Human', Lyea was 'Lady', he himself was 'Lord', Kylle was 'Kylle-person', Howard was sometimes 'Master' or 'Lecturer'depending on what he was doing, Odin was 'Sir' must be from their martial-trainings, The Lord thought. The boy opened his mouth again but only a quivering sigh came out, his eyes begging The Lord silently. Noting the panic hidden deep inside them, The Lord nodded once and carried his light body to the bedroom.

"Milord, I don't-..." Howard's words stopped at the sight of him, Lyea closed the doors and followed behind. The Lord stopped at his bedside. "Odin...!" he greeted softly.

The General was lying on his back, half reclining on the pillows propping his upper body. "I'm ashamed, Milord...must be my age-..." he stopped as a surge of pain attacked him from the inside of his body, "...-comming to get me!" and continued in a gritted blow.

"...Why, ..'seemed to worry you, too-..!!" he tried to smirk with another gritted breath and an explosive blow, followed by labored breaths. The boy stretched his arm to him as answer, and The Lord put him down gently beside Odin's chest on the bed, his small body bended voluntarily to his pillow, one arm automatically secured weakly across his chest to his shoulder. That surprised Odin a little, the boy never showed such affection or closeness to anyone other than to Deia, his weary shallow breaths hitched a little, and Odin felt a cold wet tongue licked the small wound on his neck, it felt like a little drip of heaven on his burning skin. The boy stilled for a second and let out a repressed pained sound, gripping the man's collar tightly, his whole body trembled slightly.

"...kid..?" his behaviour concerned The General more than his own state, it was only a small nick on his neck, after all. The boy's small repressed sobs that heard next to his ear alert the man, and the small fingers that turned ice-cold in a short second on the other side of his neck. "...gomen.." came the breathless answer on his pillow.

"...gomen yo..!!" the boy whispered again desperately, "...oretachi wa warui koto nano...!"(18) and then silenced. Slowly he straightened his body, one palm on Odin's chest propping him up without a weight, feeling the man's beating heart at the same time, he sagged staring at his laps with his bangs covering his eyes. "...it's not poison, it's land-killer...Genocide weapon...!". The almost soundless Lyea's gasp didn't escape his hearing, even that she'd repressed it instinctively, he knew.

"The whole Land...?" she whispered soundlessly. He nodded once. "When ?!" The Lord's asked flatly, his blue brows almost knitted together.

"...it's already started long ago...". One of Howard's brows twitched at that. "...you've lived in their territory in the past...!"

Odin's eyes widened, "...They got me back then?!". The boy shook his head, "...they collected the spesific informations about your race.."

"But back then I've never been to this land..!"

"You naturally have the antibody against the Land's poisonous environment since birth..." he unconsciously played the pointed darkblue thumbnails together.

"So, whatever it is, it corrupts the resistance in our blood to the Land's poisons?" Howard quiped thoughtfully, "I never thought that there would come a day when I'd get poisoned by this Land...!" he said flatly as if to himself, "...even now that I'm old...--".

"No, ...land-killer means it'll effect the whole land in entirety, isn't it ?" Lyea asked. Yuy stilled for a few heartbeats, then nodded reluctantly, "...it should be corrupting the poisons themselves, not the beings..!" his whisper flattened.

"And since every things in the Land have the same poisons in them for even the slightest amount, every things will be effected..!!" The Lord muttered his thoughts calmly. They were all too calm in the boy's point of view, so he stole a glance from between his bangs at The Lord's face. There was seriousness written in it, a little nervousness and a rigid contemplation told the boy that the man wasn't angry at him yet.

"What attacked Odin must be the trigger to start the self-destruct process...?" Lyea made it sound like a question. The boy's head that was dropped again was enough to answer. There was silence in the room so void that the boy almost felt like deafened by his own heartbeats hammering his chest painfully.

"...The cure ?" came the condemnation by three voices simultaneously. Odin left silenced by the pains wrecking his body, but the boy's jump of body as if being stabbed didn't escape his eyes, he already knew it that the OWLs never went halfways. "How do I dispose my body properly ?" he asked plainly. All eyes snapped at his, the boy kept staring blindly at his hands on his laps making faint sounds of clicking thumbnails.

"...You have at least 1 hour from the last time it triggered...after that the decaying process will be unstopable, and you will be fuming out the poison that will soil the whole land..."

"That means we still have like half an hour to-..."

"That's not the answer to my question!...How do I dispose my body?!" Odin cut Howard's contemplation stiffly. Yuy lifted his face, staring the man's eyes with a pair of cold dark cavern that were his eyes, the colour blackened to burning-black leaving only striations of shimmering blue in them. It was the closest resemblance to human's pupils he saw in the boy's eyes. Yuy shook his head slowly.

"...once you're soiled by it, your body changed and became the weapon itself... in years span, it already modified your structural basics so that the weapon in you will be impossible to be terminated--...!!"

Odin's brows creases, "My cadaver will be their weapon still--..."

"You'll be undead !!" Howard's flat words cut Odin's contemplation now. The General eyes shifted at him. Howard sighed deeply, "You saw their physical conditions yourself, they're half lifetime past dead..!!"

Silenced reigned as each of the humans digest the situation. "There's really no cure...?" The Lord mumbled his question. "...I didn't make any cure...!" the boy's whisper snapped all attention back to his sagged body.

"...didn't even think of it..." his small hands trembled a little, beside of that his posture still sagged weakly. "...Colle' said to just forget all about it, and beat me to death several times just because I actually made it,...so I knew he really meant what he said, and I let it slipped off my mind,-but I didn't think he'd use it..!!" the boy countered quickly. "...it... was still only almost-finished when he took the sample from me,...anyway..." and continued slowly.

Howard's brow twitched. "...you were a weapon-creator--...?!" he asked increduously, but before he finished his sentence, the boy continued in a blow of breath.

"Colle' was one of the Highest...!!". He gritted his teeth. "...he's one of the Highest, so I thought he'd want a worthy possession, too...! That's why...—I didn't want to be degraded from possession to food, so I-..!". A deep quivering tired breath, "...He's the legendary _Collector_, after all, ..they said I'd be lucky if he even consider me worth as his possession's food, but he treated me as a living thing and taught me a lot, and I didn't want him to see me as another waste or dreg –like he used to say about most of the others..- ...and at the time the others kept talking about genocide-this, genocide-that, and just be all mouth, and I wanted him to keep me, because the others were such good-for-nothing rotten bastards..!!" his whisper became a low flat hiss, getting colder and harder at the last words, and everyone in the room realized it. They silenced staring at the boy, as he was frozen staring down his own laps, his hands had stopped trembling, his mind was remembering things he couldn't leave forgotten.

"...I could...stop the change of your body...!" came the slow cold whisper after a long pause, a cold hand lifted to odin's face, caressing it with the tip of it's fingernails. "...You won't feel the pains anymore..., not dying anymore...!" the boy's face slowly lifted, staring the man's eyes from between his long bangs. "You won't be their weapon anymore...just let me eat you !" Odin started as he saw the unholy white-glimmers in the boy's dilated dark pupils. Slowly his lips leered showing the two lines of his needle-sharp teeth, and bended forward as if in slow motion, breathing in the man's scent from his neck up. "They starved me for the longest time!" a little chuckle, " ...But you'll just feel a cold tingling and nothing else,... and then you'll never die..!!" a cold snicker.

"...so how about it, little human...?" a bluish cold tongue licked his throat slowly, and Odin jumped by the cold. The Lord blinked at the turn of event, and even still dumbfounded and not comprehending anything, he extended his hands to pulled the boy from Odin. Right about then the doors flung open.

"Howard, did you find Yuy--!!" In a click everything went still. "THERE YOU ARE...!!!" then clicked to life again with Deia's accusatory yell. _She_ half ran to the bedside, tossed _her_ father's hands that were in the way, and grabbed the boy's upper arm to turn him around facing _her_. "I thought I left you to rest in MY BED since you're still so weak you looked like you're gonna die just by the effort of opening your eyelids!! What are you doing HERE...?!!" Deia's angry face shakened a little when _she_ saw the boy's shock-stricken face. His eyes were darkened to black, staring wide and unseeing, his face impassive like a mask.

Deia frowned still, "Yuy ?" and called flatly, cupping his cold sweating face with both hands. _She_ wasn't really blindly livid this time. After a few breaths span waiting for any respon or recognition from him and not getting any, _she_ looked at Lyea at the other side of the bed. "What--...?!"

Suddenly he jolted, backhanded Deia's hands off of his face hard, and flung himself to the nearest armoire. The glassdoors of the armoire shut close after him and followed by it's slide wooden-doors.

Deia froze for a few seconds, then ran to the armoire. _She_ banged the doors a few times. "Yuy ?! What is it...?!"

Feeling that _she_ wouldn't get any answer from the boy inside, Deia turned to everyone else in the room, who were also shockfaced and just as perplexed, maybe even more than Deia. "What happened..?!"

Howard reflected a flash of information to _her_ in his mind, cutting a few spesific scenes by a slight reflex of consciousness. As it was, Deia only received more about the fact that he's the one created the land-killer, and thinking that he was frightened and crushed by the guilt. But a flash of recognition came in _her_ mind from the boy's awareness.

'_...He's frightened by something else...someone...'_ -from deep down..!

_She_ widened _her_ eyes as it hit _her_. "Yuy !! Get out now, or I'll get in..!!" _she_ banged the doors again. Then as a second thought, _she_ stepped back and extended _her_ right hand with open palm. The wooden doors slid open steadily when _she_ let _her_ Harmony out. Howard stared with a teacher's eyes, _she_ did it smoothly with such control of an experienced senior-Charms, no excessive harmony leak nor too much strength, he noted with satisfaction. Maybe it's time to lift the restriction-charm he'd put on _her_ in one of these days.

Through the glassdoors, _she_ could see the boy balled with his face hidden behind his knees, his hands covered his head as if protecting himself from something. His body shook with fear, and he was reiterated word of unknown language in whispers. Before Deia could call him again, his upper body jerked up, covering his ears with both hands, eyes closed in fright, his one word grew louder in a real voice. Deia froze hearing his voice for the first time.

"...—urusai! ...urusai...urusai...URUSAAI--..!!" his voice turned to hardened yell, then he let it out in a soul-shattering shout with all his breath, quivered with such intensity. "...KIEROOOOO...!!!"

An invisible power blasted around him, it shattered the glassdoors to tiny pieces first, then all the breakable things in the room, including the wooden furnitures that were blasted by something as if from the inside out, leaving broken surfaces and grazes everywhere. When the blast of power passed, all the effected things were suspended in the air as if stopped from time. The wood splinters, the shreds of cloths, the fractures of china and glass. The fragments of the armoire's glassdoors that were pouring on Deia like a tidal wave, shining beatifully as each fragment refracted the lights in the room.

"Deia..!!" The Lord called out when he opened his eyes again. "Don't-..!" Howard's warning was unnecessary as The Lord stopped by himself when a suspended fracture of the glass grazed his arm, and let out a hiss.

"It's okay, Father, Yuy won't hurt me...!" Deia said low and calmly, still staring at the boy who was breathing heavily as he was facing his own demon all by himself. Eventually his face lifted up and recognition shaddowed his unseeing eyes.

A clear chime echoed once, and as the reverberation still heard in the air, all the air-suspended fractures gradually dropped to the ground, like a sequence-fall of domino cards centering from Lyea spreading out. Deia felt the glass fragments rained down lightly, some to _her_ feet, but _she_ paid no heed as they didn't harm _her_. Noticing the clearness came back to the boy's distant eyes somewhat.

"...nee-sa--..." he whispered in a start, slowly reached out his right hand dreamily. "...Onee-sama...!" Deia heard him again calling softly, his tight and pained expression melted to a disbeliefing relief. A flicker of jealoussy stabbed _her_ heart hearing the weight of expectancy in his voice, _she_ gripped _her_ dress trying to quell it. After the reverberation died down, the realization dawned in his eyes little by little. When recognition of _her_ in his eyes was visible for Deia, _she_ greeted him once flatly.

"Yuy..!"

The tornt expression and disappointment that flashed ih his eyes tore _her_ feelings a little, but _she_ ignored it.

'...'uma--...' he worded soundlessly. Deia smiled, "It's me..!" and said confidently.

"Human..." his soft whisper lifted _her_ heart back, more than enough.

"So, you've been hiding a naughty innerself, all this time. How come you never tell me..?!" _she_ squatted down. The boy started at _her_ nonchalant question, fear creeped down his face, it's frighteningly visible as it invaded the already pale skin. Deia lifted both _her_ hands up, "Hey, it works FINE with me! 'Glad I'm not the only black-star under the roof..!!"

Odin shared a look with The Lord, '..._Bright eye-colors like his usually come with a package!_', was what he'd said about the boy the first time they took him in.

"Hmmm...maybe we could plot a little mess together the next time I feel like it...?" _she_ asked sweetly. Howard cleared his throat and fixed his spectacles on his nose. "Absolutely NOT, _Milady_...!"

Deia's laugh bursted out light and clear like music. "Just checking, How-ward..!!". In the armoire, the boy squirmed with a shy flush colouring his face lightly. "So, come now...You're still not up to playing hide and seek in an armoire, yet. Your wounds at your back're still bleeding, they're hurting, aren't they...?" _she_ offered him a hand. He just squirmed again, averted his eyes from _her_ open gaze.

"Oh! ...don't tell me you've used up all your leftover energy in the outburst just then...?!" _she_ asked cognizantly. _Her_ answer was a deeper shade of blush on his face. _She_ chuckled happily at that, and pulled him to his feet by the arms. "Come on, up--now !". The boy squirmed shyly in _her_ hands, and his buckling knees gave out. "Or may be not...!" Deia caught his light body and slung his arms on _her_ shoulders. "Might be for the best, you don't want to step on those shattered glass with bare feet..!!"

"My troubling beast..!" _she_ admonished playfully, carrying him to the bed. He squirmed and hid his blushing face on _her_ shoulder. Howard snickered loudly, and Lyea let out an affectionate relief snort at them. The Lord let out a low humming sound deep in his throat, funny that it sounded like a growl. Odin sounded his repressed hitch as his mind registering the pains he's in again.

"So what's it about this land-killer thing...?!" Deia asked once _she_'d seated him on the bed, still holding his head to rest on _her_ shoulder. "If there's no cure, you just have to make the process reversed, right..?" _she_ said nonchalantly. "Besides, as the inlanders of an intentionally secluded land, we are at least mentally prepared for this kind of situation, right, Father ?"

The Lord shrugged, "True, I'm not panicking...!" and said to himself. "It's not about you...!!" Howard mumbled from his spot behind him.

"-...so you don't have to feel that guilty about us, this is our circumstances we've choosen from long ago..!" _she_ brushed his head with _her_ chin. "Alright ? Just calm down and let Fate decided on her own choice, I'm sure she's not that cruel since she'd brought you to me, don't you think ? Shouldn't that be our advantage in this situation...?" and whispered to his ear, the hand holding his head brushed it gently. A small nod answered _her_, and _she_ felt like the happiest being in the world just by the fact that he was _her_s again.

..._one thing at a time...!_ He reminded himself in his mind.

"You haven't answer me-, wait, no, change my question; why were you here?" Deia pouted a little, recalling that _she_ was almost panicking when 'Octonary' went from _her_ chamber's terrace and _she_ couldn't find him in _her_ bed when _she_ returned to _her_ bedroom. Ofcourse Howard had to see to The General's condition first at the time...

"...skirr..." he whispered lamely. Lyea's brow twitched once, her hand sought the crystal hung on her waistband reflexively. It felt cool like a dewy glass, she didn't realize it till now.

"What's a skirr...?!" Deia frowned. "...the..._sound_..just now..." Yuy hid his face on _her_ uper arm. "Oh. Well, never mind that now..!" Deia's eyes stared with query to the crystal pendant Lyea dangled in her left hand, noting that somehow she didn't effected by the invisible blast judging by the apperance of her surroundings, even the fragments of things scattered around her feet made a clear untouched circle.

"We couldn't find the Fēond'arc and Deceiver-Lily at this time of season...!!" a dirty 'Seventh' suddenly appeared from thin air, bowing passingly to the people in the room, and went to the marble table near the armoire. Frowning when he saw the various scrapes on it, but ignoring them all the same. He laid the things from under his shirt on the table, nodding when Lyea hurried to his side.

"We could use Grand-candle and Tornt-Snapdragon for substitute of Deceiver-Lily, but Fēond'arc is crucial...!" Lyea said biting her lower lip gently, her face was masked with seriousness like she'd never showed before. The two of them caught in the topic and talking some in ancient terms that Deia felt just to ignore them all the more when _her_ ears started to burn.

Yuy looked up in question to _her_ face, noting that _she_ got this relief and bothered face at the same time. "Hm? What..?!" Deia stared down at his wide wary eyes, "You do realize that we are the people of 'poisonous' land, don't you...?" _she_ said wryly. "Sister over there doesn't know a thing about Waves nor Spells, but she has a knack for potions, you know. Or she never showed you..?" Deia whispered to his ear.

Actually that was why Lyea liked to spend her time in the underground library. Learning new potions and digging old even ancient ones, it's her joy and pet.

"Odin, the pills you've taken should have made some effect right now, do you feel any significance from before ?" she asked passingly, her attention was focused to the ingredients on the table.

A hitched swallow, "...it felt like burning before...it's like cutting from the inside out, now...!" the man said flatly, his face looked more like irritated rather than in pain.

"Hummm... so Drowncastle should be mixed with Littledove for the pains, and Flaxen-Medusa with some of--..." she mumbled to herself. 'Seventh' watching her with both brows lifted, a bead of sweat on his face.

On the bed, Odin glanced at The Lord and Howard. "She's enjoying making me her guinea pig...!" he worded. "Just your luck !!" The Lord worded back. Behind his fade-blue eyes Odin could see the worry hidden covertly, he just snorted to answer his Lord's worry.

"I'm missing something essential, here. Yuy, what did you make it from ? -what ever _it_ is.." they heard her muttered the last words too.

"...my blood..."

Lyea stopped what she was doing at his soundless whisper, and looked back at him from her shoulder. Deia hugged him quickly, noting warily the looks in _her_ sister's eyes. "He's lost quite an amount of blood, already..!!"

Lyea approached with long strides, keeping her wide thoughtful eyes at the boy's face who was obstructed by Deia's embracing hands. She stopped a couple of steps from him, ignoring Deia's teethbaring directed at her. "The wounds...they're not still bleeding because the 'it' calling out to your blood, ...aren't they ?"

"...my blood's bassically resilient to poisons...they'd just expose me to the venom when they wanted my body to produce the antipoison..." Deia's face hardened. "...these wounds were inflicted by the gate-eaters under the Broken-earth Scape...I've already applied my blood on your wounds, so I think the venom wouldn't be fatal to you, anymore..." he closed his eyes. "But it differed somehow, I'm too soiled, now... even it could be because I'm the one already altered by the land's poison...but they're desperate out there..!"

"...Colle' was here!! He never got to the surface for ages...!! The others might just attacking this land because of that fact alone, not because of me! There's something very wrong going on in their place, and they need Colle's skills...The mercenaries would've taken anyone from this land, because they're sure that he had done something to the land...!" he said looking up to Deia's face. _She_ frowned as _her_ mind registered the worry blackening his eyes.

"Yuy,...you're more worried about them rather than us...!!" a flicker of jealousy and anger burned in _her_ eyes, he could see it clearly, accompanied with the puzzlements in them. Slowly and ever so carefully he disengaged himself from _her_ hands and backed away further on the bed, his eyes watching _her_s like a prey's eyes glued to a predator's. He risked a glance at Lyea by _her_ side, "...what do you need..?" and asked carefully.

"Are you on their side, Yuy...?!" Deia asked slowly, watching his body language like a hawk. "Deia, this is not the time !" Lyea said flatly.

"...ikitainda kara...!" he whispered assuredly. ..._because I want to live_... "Ore ga... mina o mamoru kara...!" _because I will protect everyone_...

"...but we're not part of your 'everyone'..!" Deia understood the language meaning by the connection in their minds, "...not even one of us, right !" _she_ said evenly. The boy didn't answer, only searching _her_ eyes with an odd ancient expression on his face; as if he understood _her_ saying, as if hearing something undechiperable at the same time; as if his mind correcting the accusation but denying it in his heart, as if also not caring everything, like subjected to something that doesn't matter, anyway. As if seeing something of a daydream.

"Deia, we're running low on time, we still have only about fifteen minutes at the most...!" Lyea snapped.

"...Ogreish-'I'...!" Yuy's distant whisper stopped her from saying more. "I composed _it_ from Ogreish-'I'..." even that his eyes never leaving his Human's hard stare, he'd said that as if defending his Human. His face calmed to a composed adult's expression, an expression he'd never shown to anyone before.

"...Ogreish-'I' is only mythical plant-...!"

"For you surface-walker, maybe...! Ogreish-'I' could only live in total darkness...besides, it's not a plant..." his eyes glanced at Lyea and back to staring his Human's eyes. "..._It_ was the antivenom my body made for countering Ogreish-'I''s poison, ...mixed with other minor contradictory remedies to my antibody and both the poison...!"

"...in short, _it_ was the end result of poisons collision where the actual effects are nullifying each of its contradictive opposing-reactions, so it's in a perfect balanced state..."

"...in other word it's dormant, then you just need to add something else to unbalance it to react...! " Lyea said waryly. "..-when you add another poison, such as the Land's poison or the inlanders antibody to the poison, it would automatically fix up the contradictive-poison to balance itself..." Howard added. "The process of balancing was the weapon, isn't it...? Not the poison itself...?!"

"...destructing and rearranging its hosts...everything...!" Lyea mumbled to herself. "If an antivenom was the waned venom to diminish it, then when the antivenom got stronger than the venom itself the contradictive opposant would be the original venom, right?"

The boy smirked, the white glimmers came back in his eyes. "...you can think..!" he said. The voice was silky and serene.

"Thankyou...!" Lyea said evenly. "So, you do have the Ogreish-'I' with you ?"

The boy lifted his brows, "...and you can ask !"

"...-Please" Lyea decided that she shouldn't take it as sarcasm for their sakes. The boy knew what was in her mind, and snickered, his eyes burned at her scrutinizingly and his snicker continued into a deep long chuckle. When he stopped, he put his righthand's palm on his chest without a word, his smirk still plastered on his face. His eyes gleamed white, like the opposite of a ring-eclipse. Then there was whitelight bursting under his palm, either from his palm or his chest, but the hand sank into his chest from pass his wrist. Deia gasped, instinctively worrying about _her_ beast's sake and not the half-entity before them.

He drooped his eyes staring at something inside his-self's mind. "...it bites..!!" and said flatly. After a few seconds, he pulled his hand out of his chest, leaving a handprint of light on it. A sudden screeching screams filled the room deafeningly, it sounded like a flock of banshees wailing at the same time. Deia and 'Seventh' covered their ears spontaneously, Lyea only pinched her face and took a few steps back, Howard and Odin gritted their teeth, only The Lord stared it evenly.

"...and noisy..!" the boy said calmly as if to himself. The Ogreish-'I' sphere in his hand was about the size of an apple, it was transparent and colourless, with orbs of shimmering 'eyes' dispersing incessantly in the globular body, spikes and tentacles emerging and drowning on the body randomly. Several tentacles found their ways seizing the boy's hand and piercing through the wrist in a deadlock coils. The screeching got more high pitched from ear-piercing to brain-shattering, and Deia couldn't take it anymore.

"Make it shut up...!!" _she_ yelled. The boy snorted, but did as _she_ said, licking the sphere like a cat licking its prey. The screeches died down eventually to a high whirring sound, the tentacles seizing his hand returned to the body and the spikes calmed, made it looked like a ball of water. A low whirring sounded from Lyea's direction as if Skirr was also calming the thing down. All in all, their whirring were syncronizing and made a friendlier sound to their ears.

"Tame it properly before use...!" the boy said evenly, and tossed it unceremoniously to Lyea. "I only brought one in me, so don't ask for more..."

A pair of hands holding a shell of black light-sphere closed in a flash on the Ogreish-'I' just before Lyea's face. She felt a body materialized behind her back, then white cloak flowing around her body, and two 'tails' of long scarf told her who it was. "You don't throw a _life-eater creature_ to a human being just like that..!!" 'Thrice' said harshly, his one visible eye shone red almost like burning fire, above Lyea's head. She just blinked and stood still in his encircling hands, her face flushed a little.

The boy ignored him and crawled to Deia, he kneeled right before _her_ stiff standing body, and stared each other face to face so close that they're breathing the same air. "...you smell like darkness..." he whispered breathily, closed his eyes and angled his face to whisper next to _her_ ear, and rested his head on _her_ shoulder. "...'_he_' may not like me, but...-" he breathed deeper and harder, it fogged and brought a shiver on _her_ neck. But _she_ stubbornly held still, ignoring him—the one that wasn't _her_ beast. He chuckled tiredly, a deep intake and colder sigh. "...take good care of me,...I'm dying..!" he smiled, "...and you'll need to take another bath..!". A harsh snicker developed to a manic breathy chuckle, turned to wet coughs in the middle and _she_ felt a thick cool liquid bursted to _her_ front.

_She_ gasped and grabbed the boy's shoulder to pushed his body backward, but a cold bleeding hand embraced _her_ waist tightly. "...don't.." he whispered chokedly, "...'m fine... tame..!" his pained eyes sideglanced to the Ogreish-'I' in the black light-shell held by 'Thrice''s hands. The teenage-Charms nodded and flashed to him. The boy extended his left hand and brushed the shell's air just ghostly. The Ogreish-'I' sphere shone, and he worded 'fire' to 'Thrice'. There was a flash of something in his red-shining eyes, but disappeared together with the red-shine when he focused to the shell in his hands.

'Seventh' hurried to his side, "I'll--...". But 'Thrice' already accelerated his Harmony conjuring the fire to flame in the shell. The flame was blown and wafted by the Ogreish-'I' shining sphere, it looked llike they were fighting in the shell. "How long is it doing that? We don't have much time..." Howard quiped from the side, scutinizing the shell with his spectacles lowered on his nose, his pearly-white eyes shone in interest.

The boy stared with eyes drooped and wavering, focusing and distanced as he felt his mind tried to slip from him again and again. Deia tightened _her_ full embraced on his slightly trembling body, and he smiled to himself. Opened his lips just a slight, then he sang his forbidden-Voice out. It sounded like a world-choir, of trees and soils and rocks, of waters and winds and lights, they could hear the maidens' voices in it, like a backsong or music. Something that luring the souls to rest. They felt like their souls dispersing to merge with the singing, and started forgeting their existance, when suddenly 'Thrice''s flat word brought them down to their bodies again, and the awareness hit them violently.

"...It has eyes !!"

Lyea gasped and lost her footing, 'Seventh' caught her from behind. The others were generally sporting stunned faces as if been slapped by the face. Howard flicked his head and pushed his spectacles up, clearing his throat. "...you have one hell of a Voice, Boy..!"

Yuy smiled ironically, "..._Ogre_ likes my singing, ...that's why I brought her along..! Didn't mean to give you troubles..."

"No..!" several people quickly interjected his defeated tone. They looked at each other surprisedly, "No, actually we're lucky that you're here...! Right!" and only Howard continued, while the others just nodded with an awkward smiles on their faces. Odin watched with a frown, and The Lord stared evenly at nothing. Deia hid _her_ lips behind the boy's shoulder and whispered to _her_self, "I didn't want you here for something like this...!" A cold flash burned in _her_ eyes for a second.

The Ogreish-'I' sphere fused with the fire and dissipated to a liquescent smoke-like wafts. In the wafts they could see four 'eyes' shining white, 'staring' at them one by one. "...koi.."(17) The boy reached out his open left palm to it, and the wafts penetrated the shell in 'Thrice''s hands like nothing obstructing it, and 'swam' to coil around his hand.

He crawled to get alongside Odin's chest with Deia's help. Put his left palm on the man's wound on the neck. Odin blinked when the cool wafts touched his stinging wound, and suddenly his body jerked as he felt something sucking his life from the inside out. His rigid hand seized the boy's hand reflexively, gripping the smaller hand compulsively. A warm hand stayed on his forehead gently, The Lord's fade-blue eyes stared him with tender feelings mixed with sadness. He smiled. Odin stared for a second then closed his eyes.

"How long..?!" Howard asked to noone in particular. "A couple of minutes the most...!" Lyea answered evenly. 'Thrice' watched with a distant gaze, 'Seventh' was watching him from his side.

The wafts gradually turned to black and its 'eyes' turned red. Odin gritted his teeth feeling that he couldn't hold his life from being sucked away anylonger. Just as he thought he'd loose his grip on the end of his life thread the force that sucking it stopped abruptly and he fell limply to the pillow with a blow of breath. The black wafts shot out to the boy's craft plate like an arrow, he gasped chokingly when it penetrated his body, bending forward in pain.

Deia let out a pained sound, the hand gripping his sleeve trembled with empathy, _her_ mind registering his pain like a cloud shielding _her_ awareness. He tried to catch his breath for sometime, when he glanced at Lyea, his black-armor already covering his lower face. Lyea nodded at him, "Leave the rest to me..!" she said assuredly. Just as she spoke the last word, the boy dropped to the bed unconscious.

"Pru..!!" Deia lifted his unmoving body panickly. "He needs the sky!" 'Thrice' said evenly, staring with unreadable eyes when _she_ stared back at him. "Forbidden-borns usually sky-bound. He understood that he wouldn't beable to see the sky anymore when he decided to stay in this land,...just take him to a higher place, Little lady."

Deia blinked stunnedly, _her_ hand moved under the boy's tunic slowly, finding a small handprint wet with blood. "It's not physically open wound, just the reflection of his mind regestering the access opened...!" 'Thrice' continued while bandaging the boy's right wrist that were bleeding by the Ogreish-'I' tentacles before. "Don't touch these wounds before he himself say it's alright for anyone to touch them...!"

Deia half stunnedly nodded, then carried him out in a hurry. Truth was, _she_ never really agreed to the idea that he used himself for others like that. May be because _her_ inclination weighed more on him rather than else's sakes. Rather than this Land's sake !

"...report...?" Odin asked hoarsely. 'Thrice' gave a small bow to them, finding The Lord's eyes burned at him with the seriousness he seldom showed outright. "The OWLs retreated when I _heard_ that creature screeching. Must be something they feared of, since they didn't do it orderly..!"

"The other report..?" The Lord asked silently, his eyes fell on what Lyea was doing with the bandage and the ground ingredients by the other side of bed.

"I went to the suburb of Eyränd. You're right, Milord, they'd been attacked, too."

"...had been ?" Howard muttered to himself. "Means nothing left...?! Was it looked like somekind of plague?"

"Death." 'Thrice' said apathetically. "There was entiredly nothing left, even the soil was dead. I didn't check further to the land, but there seemed to be somekind of barrier that controled the 'death' since Eyränd was an openland but the deaths seemed to stop just right before its boundaries."

"The other scouts reported the same thing happened to other neighbouring lands, the farthest we could check in the short time was the sub-territory of Furndeisth, Stegāto. It looked like the people fled in haste, there wasn't too many dead bodies found as it should be, that means they knew about the attack or being warned first."

"Dead bodies.." The Lord said indifferently.

"They're mostly charcoaled in Stegāto, the rest were dried cadavers. In the suburb of Eyränd I found the remnants of living beings in the sands. In Grandmongrel found melted remnants. In the city of Rűdern found rocked masses resembling frozen lava with parts of human bodies sticking out, with exception that the plants there seemed like didn't effected. In the lordless colonies to the south found the dead-sleepers..-"

"Dead sleepers..?"

"Sleeping to death, Father..." Lyea muttered. "Did their bodies disintegrated when touched?"

"Yes, Milady. So did the plants, but the scout who went there reported to spot some small insects that still living..-" 'Thrice' stopped repoting when The Lord signalled him to stop with his hand.

"We can go to details later. Right now we should quarantine the woundeds and check if there's any other case like this. It seemed like the OWL wanted open war with the upsiders, not only us, so we should contact other lands and see if they need help..-"

"Milord-..?" 'Thrice' asked perplexedly.

The Lord cocked his head, "In a full-scale war, such a tiny land like ours wouldn't survive for too long. We're short on human forces and the Land doesn't give too much stock of provisions, either. If they cut our trade-route, about one-third of our civilization will crumble, not to mention that we have our own circumstances concerning the Land's environment, the beasts attacks were increasing abnormally this past half year..." The Lord said half paying attention to what he himself saying.

"We could at least help mending the woundeds in other countries, and gather information there about the enemies, try not to engage with any political matters, I'd like to keep ourselves neutral when it come to other lands' conflicts...we don't need more enemies, anyway...!"

"Howard, see to it..!"

"Milord..!" the old-Charms bowed and looked to a stunned 'Seventh', then teleported from the room. He understood and bowed to excuse himself, stole a glance to 'Thrice' then followed to whereever Howard teleported.

"Yuy said something about 'broken-earth scape' just then...Do you know anything about it ?" The Lord's voice sounded thoughtful but his face looked like he's not interested. 'Thrice' blinked and opened his mouth to answer, but The Lord beat him. "The Collector was one of the Highest...Deia said one of the mercenaries said something about 'the scape's inhabitant', too...!"

"The 'Highest' would be one of their community's classes, I suspect. 'Broken-earth Scape' is the planes to the far north from here, it's one of the gates to their habitations in the undergrounds...'scape's inhabitant'..." 'Thrice' paused and stared at the floor. "When you say only 'scape', it'd mostly means the shortened for 'Last-Scape', the deepest habitation of the OWLs. The ones who live there are far different than the OWLs who rampaging the surface..." his voice sounded farther.

"...like you ?" The Lord's eyes fell on him. 'Thrice' silenced and stared back with a mask's eyes. "They didn't find me worth keeping, so they discarded me to the surface in a short time."

The Lord hummed to himself, "...How do you think about that boy..?"

'Thrice' bowed. "I'm in no position of giving any judgement--..."

"-Means he should be higher than you in your society's ranks...!" The Lord rubbed his chin with one hand, the other he still halfconsciously put on Odin's forehead. "How high is he ?"

"...Truly, this is just a question, not a judgement !" he added as a second thought.

'Thrice' stared the human Lord for sometime. "...higher..!" he answered silently.

"Compared to The Collector...?" The Lord lifted one brow. 'Thrice' casted his eyes downward, swallowed once, "...higher !"

The Lord's other brow lifted matching its pair. "He didn't seem like he acknowledged himself so..!!"

'Thrice' tried a few time, "...It's..."

"His innerself !" The Lord said to himself. "I see...but you couldn't have two ranks at the same time, could you..?" He hummed an affirmative to himself again. "How old is he..?"

"Sir..?" 'Thrice' lifted his head in surprise.

"You should be able to recognize his age by his pressence, right ? He has an old gaze sometimes, it concerned me for the least. To manage a 'higher' rank in such a society would took quite a while. Deia seemed too fond of him as a younger brother, and he reacted to that conditioning, I just don't want him to have a clash with his own identity...-" he blinked, his subconscious supplied his mind with a face of Deia with a dark alien gaze filled with something akin to cold hatred. "Eih, did I say that right...?" he said reflexively, tried to shake the unbidden realization off.

Odin snorted.

"The Last-Scape's time runs slower than the surface's. The farther you live from the core of Sphere, the faster time passes by. From our view, it almost looked like the time's stopped in the 'Scape. I wouldn't be too concern about his identity-clash, Milord. The fact that his body deteriorating might be because of the difference of the passing of time here...! To have his body forced to grow in our life-speed must be more than painful for him..."

"How old is he ?" the Lord repeated the question, his brows creased.

"...older..." 'Thrice' said softly, the end of his lips quirked upward a little, "...by a few centuries !"

Odin bursted the not-too-tasty potion from the glass Lyea was holding to his mouth. Lyea stared the teenage-Charms, then glanced at her father, then proceeded to rub Odin's back as he coughed hardly.

The Lord hummed to himself, long, with hand still rubbing his chin. Lyea stole a glance at him again, noting the uninterested expression masking his face, on the contrary meant he had something in mind.

The Lord nodded once than dismissed the teenage-Charms, ordering him to take some rest before he let himself out. 'Thrice' seemed like he took it differently for a while, the feeling of being an outsider his whole life rubbed on him deeper than anything. "Come to work for the next shift, you rest when you rest..!" The Lord grinned childishly and shooing him with a hand. "Children should act like children no matter how old they are !" he muttered.

'Thrice' had a shy expression for a second, the slight flush on his face still lingered when he bowed to excuse himself, muttering "I'm sorry !", then fled from the room on foot.

The Lord had the tendency to chuckle outright. "He's cute when he had that expression..!!"

"He's older than you by _a few centuries_..!!" Odin muttered harshly. "Oow...but I like cute children !" The Lord pouted like a five years old _girl_.

"Father, those words could be taken as something scandalous, you do realize...?!" Lyea muttered low with a sweatdrop. Her father only chuckled deeper. "Well, who do you think rubbed the liking to cute-things to Deia in the family...!" he grinned widely.

Both Odin and Lyea snorted simultaneously.

---------------

---------------

(1) (2) (3) the name of plants that had their own unique characteristics and usages

(4) (5) ...still the name of plants, only the ones mostly used as adornments or charms/amulets

(6) (7) (8)...plants too, edible ones

(9) _Lady's-Dawn_, the term the people of Archantra used to call the sunrise, as they never see the real rising/setting sun, and only the aurora-like lights that shimmering through the layers of the Stratus. For sunset, they called it Lady's-Dusk. Simple, isn't it?

(10) a type of Fairs

(11) actually a type of bird that tale-telling stories in their own language

(12) _Aurifera-flamechests;_ a type of insect that mostly resembled dragonflies, only two-bodied and had fish-like tails, the wings were like a flying-fish's fins

(13) _Obscury-morpho_; a type of butterfly; it was believed that when a child was born in Archantra, the iridescence-lights on their white-wings were halo-ing with the child's name in ancient-writings, as if being written in the Air.

(14) _Rűii-naqta_; a type of naqta that usually used in ceremonies and sacred rituals, the stick and blades were given holes or carvings in such fashion that would let out winding music when moved/used strategically

(15) _Ulotrichous-quake_; actually Deia made up the name, it was usually _her_ imaginary-scapegoat when _she_ was little, for all the mess _she_ accidently (or some were not so accidently) made. The poor-soul that had really been made 'ulotrichous' was one of Howard's summon-beast of the dog type (you'd guess it'd be a poodle...hahaa), it was severely burnt by one of Deia's **cooking** (that was usually inedible) and ran amok and making one hell of hysteria in the Castile

(16) linguistically a suffix used for children's names, literally means 'sweet child', usually used for little girls under 7 of age. The Archantra people usually gave their daughters names with an 'a' at the ends so that they could call them automatically with the suffix, e.g. if it's Deia they'd call Deiankhiie. The word '_ankhiie_' as not a suffix lately used widely to call someone as '(childishly)_spoiled_' or '(childishly)_tenacious_' ...

[ something The Lord wouldn't have to hear someone call him with since it was considered as a felony for everyone of lower rank to say The Lord's name, that automatically means everyone in the Land...one reason why Odin called him with a nickname although secretly behind his back.

(17) ...means 'come here', not love! You people would sue saru if saru made him fall in love with others rather than his Human, right...?

(18) '_we're such evil people_', ...something like that...

...all the names of the ingredients Lyea named were plants, the poisonous ones...too many for numbering there, you'd be more confused by now, hahaa

ikitai means (I) want to live; with 'nda' at the end for stressing the meaning

kiero means disappear, in ordering form

right...after there're some other lands mentioned here, there'll be more to come, and hope that the plot got wider spread... being bored for writing about the small-world of Archantra only...some love-quarrels in the next chapt, heehee...guess who!! (grinning hentai-ly...not really...!)


	15. unreachable sun

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku may 08, 2007 **

**# 15 Unreachable Sun **

_...where are you...?_

_I've been waiting for you..._

_it was a dark place, a round window behind, the dry branches of a tree plastered in a standstill outside, leaving a shadow scenery on the floor where the dim light casted down from glassless cross frame, dry marks of splattered blood painted the wall, a heavy clink of chains. Red pointed nails brushed the other hand's fingers of bones..._

_a deep sigh..._

_an empty longing.._

In the tower Kylle was already waiting for them, spreading a thick blanket for them in his hands, a sweet smile still plastered on his face. Deia sat on the bench that covered with plushy pillows, cocooned in the warm blanket with Yuy in _her_ hands. They came across with Ruéa and some other maids on their way up, they seemed to be concerned to say the least, most of them were Yuy's fans, since there's almost never a boy living in the Castile. But they knew it when _she_ didn't want to be bothered, and left _her_ be.

"Do you want me to leave, Lady Deia ? If you need me, I'll be just outside at the stairs.." Kylle said softly.

"Here's fine, Kylle.." Deia said distantly. Kylle stared them for a moment, then bowed politely, sat on the tower window's ledge behind them and carved. A serene air ghosted around them dancing in the open tower breeze.

There's so much thoughts fighting their dominance in Deia's mind right now, and everything left its marks in _her_ awareness _she_ didn't even know what was _her_ conscious mind thinking about, as _she_ could almost see _her_ thoughts made a mosaic of jumbled images and words and lines mixed with repressed emotions that unbiddenly carved their ways to the surface. Technically speaking, _she_ felt like drunk. And it wasn't a good drunk, either. Lightheaded and off balanced, _she_ only tried to stick _her_ core mind to where _she_ felt nothing, which was _her_ soul. Scanning distantly the scenery from the high tower, to where the whites spread incessantly with fractions of lights from the Stratus sometimes casted upon.

The winds blew gently, bringing faint sounds of life around them. A cold feeling ran down _her_ spines, _she_ tightened _her_ hold on Yuy's bundled body halfconsciously. A flock of Relic-prayers(1) flew high almost like they're touching the Stratus, relishing in its multicoloured rays. A shiver came involuntarily. What's a great pair of wings good for if there's no sky to fly to? There's no sky in this small land..! There's only such a low fake-sky of confinement, beautifying itself so those who were confined wouldn't be bored and break out of their incarceration.

'_...you are one mean and possessive land, ...Mother...!_'

_...mother..._

An almost unperceivable mind-whisper echoed _her_ thought, _she_ knew it by heart who it came from. _She_ smiled a little ironic smile.

'_...I never had a real mother, Pru ..so I think of this land as my mother... you know what it's like.._'

'_even though she looked at me as a step-child...! She's just old, that's all...old and wary and suspicious, may be even lonely.._'

_...Human love this land..._

It's not sounded like a question.

'_...I do... I have no other place I could call home..._'

'_besides,...it's not like she wasn't a good mother, either. She's just too possessive to the extent of meddling our bodies and minds..._'

'_...perhaps even our souls... I wonder what would become of my soul when I die, she might just reuse it for bringing other things of this land's to life...kind of like recycled-reincarnation'_

Deia giggled derisively to _her_self.

'_...when that happens, I don't want to be recycled into plants...!_'

_She_ cocked _her_ head out of habit.

'_...I wonder if plants could fall in love with others, must be a painfull way to have a heart that way.._'

Deia closed _her_ eyes, tucking Yuy's head under _her_ chin. Another shiver ran up _her_ body, _she_ reflexively tried to counter it by hugging the blood-covered bundle in _her_ hands tighter, seeking his body warmth for comfort despite the fact that his natural body temperature was much lower than _her_s.

'_...I dont want anything bad to happen to this land, Pru...mean as she is she's the only mother I know.._'

The gore sights of the other lands they passed on their way back to the land came unbiddenly in the back of _her_ mind. _She_ didn't tell what _she_ saw to the others when they'd arrived to the Castile. _She_ unconsciously knew something very wrong was happening in the outerlands, but at the time _she_ chose to deny the cruciallity of it and just pinpoint _her_ mind with the selfishness of a child to someone much more important to _her_. Now when the reality presented openly to _her_, _she_ had to make _her_self aware of _her_ surroundings eventually...because that surroundings wanted _her_ Beast to be involved in this.

'_...I hate war!! ...war is a meaner level of selfishness adults use to force others to get the rcognition for their existence_..'

'_what was so good about being acknowledged, anyway...if you couldn't exist in their peripheral line of sights, then they could might as well disappear from your universe..!_'

Indulging in the bitterness is sometimes much easier than to be happy, when you find how to enjoy the sorrow better than unendingly striving for bliss. Eventually you stop caring of those you don't need.

...What if you'd find that you don't need the universe? Or that one day you find it you don't need yourself, what will happen then...?

_...soba ni iru kara... kienaide..._ (2)

A small sincere smile bloomed on _her_ face. '_someday I'll give you the sky you need...just bare with me...?_' _she_ worded silently to the still unconscious boy in _her_ hands.

Behind them, Kylle smiled to the Air...

---------------

'Thrice' walked as fast as he could while trying not to look like it. Behind, in the corridor before the turn he could feel 'Octonary' chasing him with a determination. One time he'll be forced to confront him, it was bound sooner or later anyway, but he wished it wouldn't be this time. He's tired more than he could show it.

...may be he could escape by jumping out the window ?

He stifled a sigh; where's the window when you need one..?!

'Octonary' turned and he could see 'Thrice' in the one corridor quite a distance from him, and could feel his tenacity to escape him without showing it. He huffed once, and called out while lengthenning his steps to get to the smaller-Charms.

"'Thrice'...! 'Yuä..!!"

'Thrice' grimaced one end of his lips; there's the calling he hated from _that_ boy again..! He fastened his walk without looking back, not caring if it showed.

"I'm off duty, The Lord gave me a break, Shæ...!" he said passingly under his breath. He called the bigger-Charms with the title just because 'Octonary' was of higher rank in the force. But 'Octonary''s legs were much longer than his, so without so much effort he had already in his hand range behind him. "I know, that's why I'm searching for you!"

"Well you found me. Leave me alone...!!" 'Thrice' muttered to himself, knowing the bigger Charms could hear him anyway. 'Octonary' grabbed one end of his floating long scarf behind his back, and like an arrow 'Thrice' shot up and confronted him. That surprised 'Octonary' somewhat it made him backpedalled one step back. They both stopped.

'Octonary' was the remaining son of one of the Special Force family, his late father was The Late Lady's special guard that had died protecting her, and her unborn child, but still she died anyway. Leaving only Deia...

He was about the age of mid-twenties, but the Charms usually disguised their real ages. He was tall about Odin's height, and have a soldier's air around him too. Usually he didn't talk much, and not sociable, either, but he carried such a charisma with him. The others respected him probably because his lineage also. His hair cut short at the sides, and tied behind his nape at the back, length around his waist, with unrully bangs on the top of his head. It had silvery-blue colour on the top and a deep-green hue on its ends, with a few streaks of deep-blue hair tied separately in small stripes. There were two red-lines marking his forehead as his Special Force rank and a signet in the middle as his family's insignia. He stared the white-haired teenage-Charms in front of him, who openly refused to look at him, keeping his red-shining eye on the floor separated their feet by about one step away.

"Yes..., Shæ ?" 'Thrice' almost whispered in a submissive tone.

If he intended to make the bigger-Charms to feel like he was treating him like a slave by the leash around the neck, 'Thrice' succeeded, but 'Octonary' didn't show it. "Show me your hands..!" he said calmly. "...Please." and added as an afterthought.

'Thrice' didn't budged. So 'Octonary' kneeled and intended to take a look at them by himself. Still, he didn't want the smaller-Charms to feel like he's forcing him, so he asked for permission once again, staring up at his eyes from a lower position.

"Please ?" the slow question tinged with a pleading tone. The floor he was staring at was now occupated with the bigger-Charms' knees, with two bigger hands extended openly around his own tigh-high. 'Thrice' didn't say anything, then turned his face to the side a little, staring at nothing in particular. 'Octonary' who had understood his body language, smiled gratefully, his strong posture melted with relief. '_Do what ever you want_' was better than '_don't touch me_', at least the smaller one didn't say the sarcastic retort before he stop caring about him, perhaps he's too tired despite his stubborness of being well by himself.

"...I'm not a child, just because you've grown much bigger than me...!!" 'Thrice' said as if talking to someone else beside them. 'Octonary' could say something like '_I'm not treating you like one, unless you act like it_', but he smiled to himself instead.

"I'm just concerned..." he took 'Thrice''s hands each in one hand by the fingers, smoothed the backs with his tumbs, and kissed them together just lightly. 'Thrice' turned his face farther to the side, a little crease appeared between his white brows.

"You hate me that much..?" 'Octonary' said with a smile, turning both the smaller hands to inspect the palms. But then he furrowed his own brows at the sight presented to him.

"...just small fractures...!!" 'Thrice' said fast trying to pull his hands from 'Octonary''s grasps, but the bigger-Charms didn't let him. There were hairline-fractures on his palms, like a porcelain fractured by heating, that was what the fire done to him physically. He silenced.

'Octonary' didn't say anything, either. He just smoothed the palms with his thumbs for a while, and sometimes he kissed them lightly, his eyes trained to the turned face. It's not like he could mend them, anyway, he mused to himself, but it's not the excuse to stop being concerned.

"I'm not your ancestor, so don't call me like that...!!" 'Thrice' said silently.

"...Yuyuä !" 'Octonary' said to the smaller hands on his lips.

"I said I'm not your kind..!!" 'Thrice' exploded snapping his face to his, with one eye blazing red by flashing anger. The move made the bangs covering his half face swayed to the side, so the other eye which usually unseen was visible for a while. It was burning gold coloured, shone like a fire he always said he never liked himself. The shining anger dissipated after a short moment. 'Octonary' didn't avert his eyes from it.

"If I don't call you like that you wouldn't see me..!" his words carried a smile, although his eyes shaded with a lonely colour.

"You could just order me to. I'm obliged to obey your blood, anyway...!" the smaller-Charms averted his eyes from him again.

"I wouldn't order you around like a slave! No matter what you think of me..."

"You will !" 'Thrice' said with finality, "...just because you have the authority to do so. You would at least do it once in your lifetime...!"

'Octonary' searched his face for a while. "...just like my family did..?" he almost sounded like asking forgiveness for himself. The bitterness silenced 'Thrice''s sarcastic words he was going to retort out. They were drown in their own thoughts for a moment. "If we're done clarifying that, would you please let go of my hands, Shæ...?"

'Octonary' didn't say anything more, he looked down to the smaller hands that looked so fragile in his bigger hands.

"...I wish you could see me the way I see you...!" he thought in his link. 'Thrice' was his favourite-someone when he's still a child, he used to run to him, gripping his floating white cloak thightly so he wouldn't leave his sight, not really understanding his family's ties with the teenage-Charms. And he's still his important-someone now, heartfully.

Then let go his hands slowly.

'Thrice' backstepped a few times, then turned around and continued his walk to his tower.

"...I was never in your place !" That was not a sarcastic remark, just saying it as a fact, the bigger-Charms took it as that as well. Truth be told, 'Octonary' looked just like the reincarnation of his ancestor who captured him and tied him to be his family's slave, he knew it too, that's why he always asking that hating-him question.

---------------

"How are you feeling now..?" Lyea put the new wet cloth on Odin's forehead.

"...would it be bad if I take a nap for a while..?" Odin said half whisperingly. Lyea smiled, an apologetic one. "It'd be better on my mind if you could stay awake for at least two more hours...?"

Odin's white brows lifted up in a questioningly way, Lyea could see the drowsiness on his eyelids, from the potions she gave him, he didn't show any objection, though. Bobbed his head a little, "For your mind's sake...!"

"Sorry..!" Lyea patted his hand twice. Then, sitting by the table she ground more things for other potions.

"...he's a good lad..." Odin tried conversationally.

"Yes ?" Lyea turned her head.

"...that 'Octonary'..and from a good lineage too..." Odin added the last part fast.

Lyea blinked. "Yes...?" she asked inquiringly.

Odin stifled a huff, he's not someone to try to play father. "Deia is having _her_ puppy-love time...!" although it's not sounded like what he'd intended at the beginning.

Lyea smiled slowly, her political smile. "I don't know what to make of your statement, Odin..."

Odin cleared his throat, it jarred his small wound to agony but he didn't show it. "You know..." he tried in hesitation.

"That Mother and Father were already fall in love with each other from childhood- yes..!" Lyea turned back to her grinding.

"You _are_ their daughter...!" Odin added.

"...that I would have the tendency to spot my love one at early age...?" Lyea let out a soft laugh to herself. "I already have a dearest, Odin..!"

"Okay...!" Odin said fast. They silenced with their own thoughts in mind for quite a while. "You don't..." a pause of hesitation "...love.. _Deia_ that way, do you...?"

"That way ?" Lyea turned in her seat facing him on the bed.

"Well, ... I thought you might see... the _real-self_... like that...!" They're not blood related siblings after all. And love could settle in just because of constant happenstances in daily life. And as a boy, if you could see _her_ like that, Deia was...mesmerizing, to say the least. It's hard not to love Deia, he knew it himself.

"Do you think it would be allowed ?" Lyea asked analytically. That silenced Odin, he only lifted his brows a few times when he tried something but couldn't.

"You're not someone to play father, Odin...!!" Lyea snickered softly. Odin lifted his shoulder at that.

"No, you don't have to wory about that, Odin, sir..!" Lyea added politely. "And, yes, ... I do set my eyes on 'Octonary'- shæ sometimes. He's someone with that kind of charisma on most people, and I don't mean only me there..!"

"...just eyes..?!" Odin cut her speech.

"I have many interests to get bussy with..!" Lyea quipped.

"I don't know... at least you could show him that you're interested with him, too...?"

"Odin..!! I'm still 14..!!" Lyea retorted, a little flush coloured her cheeks.

"Your parents talked about how they're going to hold their wedding when they're 14...!"

Lyea let out an incredulous sound. "I'm not them, Odin, leave me alone...!!" And get back to her potions again. In bed, Odin laughed softly. He intended not to get bored to death in his two-more-hours-wake, anyway.

"Have you ever...fall in love, Odin ?" Lyea asked softly, staring at her ingredients.

"Just once.." Odin smiled staring at the bed canopy. "..with your father !"

Lyea turned to him, no resentment on her face. "Do you still...?" she stopped her words at that intentionally.

"Yes!" Odin answered without hesitation. "He's someone that could be loved dearly just like that, without any effort to make people love him.."

"He's deeper than what he shows in the outside, you know. He's not always a childish Lord..!"

"I know that by heart, Odin..!" Lyea smiled.

Odin hummed low. "...if you could know him before he had the title 'Lord' you'd love him as a person..." he added as if to himself.

"May be..." Lyea said softly.

"Not romantically...!"

"Yes..?"

"I said I don't fall in love with him romantically..!" Odin said.

Lyea lifted her shoulder. "Does it matter..? He _is_ your world, isn't he ?" Lyea reasoned.

"Ohhh.." Odin laughed deeply, "I get it, you just want me to leave you alone with your _interests_, don't you...!"

Lyea stared him with innocent face. Odin laughed again to himself. "It'll be hard from now on, you realize that...!" he said flatly.

"I don't really the kind who belief in prophecies, Odin...!" Lyea said passingly.

Odin smirked, "Good for you...!"

"Those OWLs..." -pause, "...in the outside... They seemed like..." -frown, "...like they're trying to get to him ! ...to reach him with what ever it takes..., don't you think ?"

A moment of silence.

"...Who ?"

"Yuy." Lyea said with certainty. "What's this thing with 'The Legendary Collector'...?"

"I only heard stories.."

"Those what build legends..!"

Odin took a deep breath, let it out slowly as he recalled the stories he heard when he was a stray wanderer far back. "...The Collector is someone who collects..!" Odin started. "...bad souls,...as if in lives.."

"Bad people's lives ?" Lyea asked.

"No, not bad people... just bad... souls...!"

"Not spirits...souls..!" Lyea confirm in comprehension.

"Souls...!" Odin repeated with nods.

"What's with 'he beat me to death several times' issue...?" Lyea frowned remembering what Yuy had said earlier.

"They said he could make you die and reverse it again to life.."

"Not resurrect...?!" Lyea wondered.

"No, because you don't live afterwards...Just reversed death...!"

"As in undead ?"

"As in something else !"

"Hmmm... Why is it so frightening ?" she couldn't grasp the fearsome idea.

Odin frowned. "...You'd want to stay alive as yourself, don't you...?"

Lyea lifted her shoulders again. "Depends in the condition my living is...!"

"As something else means I wouldn't remember of who I was before ? ..where I come from, and everything ?"

"Perhaps...!" Odin hesitated. He never really heard the full story of The Legendary Collector, anyway, just bits of it here and there. The OWLs were not very talkative to strangers. Right! Try to anyone..!!

"...something like those OWLs out there ?" Lyea continued. Somehow she got the impression that the OWLs were not always looking so eerie like them.

Odin lifted one shoulder. He really didn't have the answer to that. The OWLs were still a far deeper mistery than what he could guess, most people knew those OWLs from the fears others had towards them. The colony of OWLs where he spent some times with were a mix of diversities of people and beasts that were mostly dominated with OWLs. Not exactly an OWL colony.

"Was he a god..?"

"What ?"

"A god..?" Lyea repeated.

Odin silenced for some moments "A god could be many things for different people.."

"How about for us ?" Lyea said flatly, she meant for the Land.

"For ordinary people like you and me... the Charms are already quite...godly..!" Odin said with a frown. "I guess he could be a god... If he could play with lives just like that, he could be a god-thing for us." Odin repeated with something akin to resentment.

"Then, that's what they all feared of...the fact that he owns such power, not because of the power itself...or because of he himself !" Lyea deduced it to herself. Odin stared at her with her own thoughts still running in her mind.

"You can think...!" he said with a tinge of wonderment.

"I heard that earlier today...!" Lyea said half reflexively.

---------------

"_...How do you think about that boy..?"_

"_Compared to The Collector...?" _

"_...higher !"_

---------------

Lyea knocked on Deia's bathroom door, a casket held carefully in her hands. She entered when the double doors let her in. In the pool, Deia was resting _her_ mind, bended _her_ upper body on the water's lap, listening the water's voice only _she_ could hear. _Her_ knee-long wavy hair covering _her_ back and floating on the surface around _her_. _She_ opened one of _her_ eyes when Lyea called _her_ name.

"...Odin wants you to have this !" she had a serious expression.

"What's that ?" Deia opened another eye, but _her_ face didn't show interest at all.

Lyea opened the casket carefully and set it on the floor, she sat before it. In the little box was a globe of water swirling lazily in itself. Deia frowned a little.

"Water...?"

"Water-tree's heart, it's Odin's treasure. He gave it to you..!"

"I know what that is, and what you want me to wear it for...! Like wearing a dress is not enough already..!!" Deia half-yelled, while straightening _her_ body, the water's surface was about _her_ hips high. Lyea could see _she_ was completely bare in the clear water, _she_ showed no caution with _her_ true nature these last days, as if really wanting anyone to just barge in in any circumstances and find _her_ secret. _She_ was never being self-conscious from the start, to begin with.

"It's not enough !" Lyea didn't show any uneasyness on her part, she'd took care of Deia since she was a small child. But the fact that _she_ didn't cautious enough irritated her a little.

"No...?!" Deia asked condescendingly.

"No, you'll be a teenager soon and your body should change too..!!" Lyea said sternly.

"If Odin so treasured it then he could wear it by him-...!!"

"Don't !!" Lyea cut _her_ harsh words, "-...make fun of Odin's feeling about this gift..!!"

Deia let out _her_ livid breath slowly, "...-self..."

_She_ silenced averting _her_ eyes from _her_ sister. "...It's degrading..!" _she_ said quietly.

Lyea stared _her_ figure closely, then let out a deep sigh. She slackened the imaginery wrinkles between her brows with her fingers, looking down at the water-tree's heart in the casket.

"How low could you humiliate yourself when others wouldn't find it disgracing...?" she said tiredly.

"..." Deia stared her for sometime, "...you people would know..!!"

"Deia...!"

"I don't care if you see it necessary, but it's degrading !! ...wearing fake...breasts..! And I mean not just stuffed...bra..!! Just because the dress should show some...cleavage !!" Deia's face got redder either by anger or shame.

"Deia..!!"

"If you people want me seriously, why don't you just castrate me and make me neither-..!!"

"DEIA...!!" Lyea yelled. She knew Deia wouldn't accept it in the first place.

"...or just send me away so you wouldn't have to be bothered by my body's nature, or just kill me...! That's the real issue, right ?!" Deia said through gritted teeth. By that exact time, a small choked sound heard from Deia's bed, saving the moment before the war started right then and there. Both of them stared at the bed's direction stunnedly, while their minds settling themselves to ease again.

"Prussian...!" Deia got out of the pool by the water's coils lifting _her_ body up, and strode to the bed.

Lyea widened her eyes. She grabbed a bathrobe from the hanger and covered Deia's naked body in the way. "At least cover yourself before you get out of the bathroom...!!" her cheeks flamed a little. If any (cursed!) ones happened to see _her_ without it, _she_'ll give them heart attacks. And she meant not just old-Howard...!

Yuy was lying restless in the bed, his eyes were half open blindly. Cold sweats running down his skin. His body snapped and jerked endlessly. Shivers wrecked his small frame when the pains didn't strained his body tautly in spasms. Deia climbed the bed in a flash, _she_ held his forehead with both hands calling his name softly. Lyea covered her mouth at his sudden paroxysm. "...Why ? So sudden...!" she gasped, he was sleeping soundly when she took a peek at the bed before she headed to the bathroom.

"No...he's been like this for the past hours. He'll tame the pains for a while, they'll be back after some times..!" Deia said paying half attention to their surroundings. "They're back with vangeance..!"

"...each time... they doubled..." Deia stared Yuy's eyes fixedly, willing _her_ conscious mind to break through his pains. "He's having a war with himself..." _she_ said softly.

"...it is ...as if when he weakens his innerself gets stronger...!"

Lyea took a good stare at her _sister_, _her_ soft flat words, _her_ composed posture, _her_ calm face with only a little frown marred _her_ expression, the darken empathic eyes feeling Yuy's inner struggles and obvious pains. Lyea stared _her_ stunnedly with a faint flush on her face. When did a boy start to look...manly..? She never really see Deia that way, but she had to admit eventually that _her_ true-self was... so...

A choked cough heard loud enough to cut her contemplation. Yuy's eyes widened but still unseeing, the blackness from his craft-plate slithered on his skin like living things, but didn't form anything, they just made some artery-like coils and back to the plate. His figure jerked once, then arched like a small bow from the bed. His teeth gritted so hard they almost expected his gums started to bleed. His body fell back to the bed, small moans, his feet kicked a few times, then his body arched again. The cycle repeated for a couple more times, then suddenly he bolted to sitting as if a sleeper waking from a nightmare.

Several choked breaths later, he turned his head ever so slowly to the others beside him. Sounds and lights and movements and feelings and a lot of other things overlaid with each other and he couldn't even catch anything besides his inner pains.

"...He's not seeing us...!" Lyea whispered carefully to Diea.

Deia's frown got deeper. _She_ reached _her_ drawn hand out to his face, cupping his cheek just ghostly. When _her_ fingers touched the cold skin, he jerked in surprise as if apprehending dangers. _She_ pulled _her_ hand a little, guarding his head as to not getting away of _her_ reach, instinctively making hushing sounds. "...Prussian..." tilted _her_ head to his ear. "..come to me ...?" _she_ whispered.

His irises quavered, searching but still unseeing. He pulled his wounded hand out from under the rumpled blankets, it was swollen under the bandages and sporting a sickly-black colour. It lifted tremblingly to _her_ hand near his face, but before he managed to touch it another violent jerk snapped his body, and it fell sideways to the bed. He clutched his wounded hand as if it was burning, his other hand hitting the mattress over and over bearing the pains. His body curled on itself and it only happened for such long seconds. When he used up all his physical power to fight the pains, he sank into unconsciousness again, leaving his tortured body at peace for some times.

Deia stroked the damp bandages on his forehead for a while, "..he resents _it_...". Then _her_ fingers moved to cup his face.

"_It_'s trying to break out of his body...!"

"..._it_ ?" Lyea repeated. Deia didn't elaborate more but she understood what _she_ meant was his innerself. Deia said 'it' as if it was not of a person. Lyea stared _her_ serene figure from behind. Did _she_ know...? Perhaps empathically ?

"_...higher !"_

...than godly...?!

---------------

'Thrice' stood up from where he'd slumped tiredly by the round metal door. He didn't count how many hours had passed, but his space was cleared once again. Let out a deep slow breath. And walked to the mirror floating in the middle of the windowless round tower. He pulled the cover, let it pooled on his feet and the floor.

The surface of the oval mirror that was taller than himself was rippled and liquescence.

He touched his fractured palm to its surface. The liquid façade froze and turned glassy, but didn't reflect anything of the surroundings. He dropped his hand. His flowing cloak fell to the floor as if blown by invisible breeze, his bandana followed revealing his four small horns from their invisibility-cover. The long scarf loosened from his neck, floating around his body in large loops. A white and slender reptile tail unfurled from under the scarf around his neck. It length around twice his height, tufts of whitelight flowing lively at its end.

The tail swung in a wide curve and he sighed feeling no restraint on his neck anylonger. Closing his eyes he touched his forehead to the mirror's surface. Bracing himself with both palms, he brushed his face intimately on it. Soft sighs. Gentle longing moans.

'_...I miss you...!_' his mind-whisper reverberated in the air.

'_...be with me...?_'

The mirror rippled once, a flash of light reflected on its surface. A transparent reflection of him appeared as if another him that was trapped in the mirror. He was bare, a dim light in the middle of his forehead marking the third-eye.

'_...I've been waiting for you..!_' the 'Thrice' in the mirror mouthed ever so slowly, like being in water.

'Thrice' smiled and pulled his feet up in a fetal position, floating in the air with his side rested on the mirror's surface. The 'Thrice' in the mirror mimicked his pose in reverse, positioning himself as if they were a pair of twins touching their foreheads to each other's, making their bodies like two fetuses in an egg's shell, their third-eyes shone reflecting each other's light. 'Thrice' looped his long tail as if protecting their bodies loosely.

Another brightlight flashed on the glassy surface, and his reflection disappeared. The mirror turned liquescence again, flowing its surface in indifference.

He gasped, opened his eyes in a snap. His body fell and he braced himself with hands and knees, half crouching on the floor. His head bended low in defeat, he gritted his teeth in helplessness.

Let his body fall to the stone floor, he lied on his side unmoving with empty eyes. Staring at nothing. Feeling nothing. Wanting nothing.

Just empty...

'_...why are you doing this to us..._'

'_...Master...?_'

...just a clay-doll...!

The never-alive one...so can't be a dead one even if he wanted to..

---------------

Kylle entered the bedroom soundlessly.

"You summon me..?" he asked softly. A pair of dark blue eyes opened to his sight.

"...I have to get out of this land..." came the soft whisper. Kylle stared with a smile lingered on his face. he said nothing.

"...I have to..." the dark blue eyes blinked twice tiredly. "...do.. something..!"

Kylle waited for a moment in case the boy would add something more. He didn't. So he asked.

"The Lady-...?"

"Don't...!" the boy whispered hoarsely, his eyes implored silently.

Kylle stared the small figure in bed. His smile widened for a moment.

"You do aware of what I am to you...?" his voice deepened a little. He got a slow nod for answer.

A soft breeze blew in from the open glassdoors, it swirled in the room leisurely, chiming the wind-beads hung by the stands on the table. His smile lifted at one edge.

"Very well.." he said softly, bended his body to the boy, reaching out both hands open. "Should I carry you there ?" knowing the boy was still too weak to even lift himself up of the bed.

He stared the human Kylle drowsily. "...please..." And let himself be carried in his slender arms.

He closed his eyes.

---------------

"We're here...!"

The prussian eyes struggled to open hearing that voice.

"...you may take your time. I'm not going anywhere..!" the voice carried a smile that was always present.

He felt the open scenery with his senses, knowing that they're already outside the Land's barrier. He managed to open his eyes just a slit, saw Kylle's head shielding his face from the scalding sunlight with its shadow. He closed his eyes again.

Under the unreachable Sun, he made his resolve... because he couldn't reach the magnificent-light no matter how taut he strained his hand up to the sky, only hurting himself in vain. ...Better not be vain alone, now...! The sky's eyes on him were never judging, he smiled in his heart of heart.

"...put me down..." he whispered soundlessly.

Kylle put him on the sand, sitting on his knees. He held his small wobbling frame for a while. Let go when the boy nodded to him, and stepped back a distance. All the while kept his stare at the trembling figure that looked like the little breeze would tip it off.

But the small beast persevered...

A series of small movements alerted Kylle to the open space in front of them. The sounds of grains rubbed on each other heard like a waterfall. Incessantly. Sounds of pouring down. Of moving currents of dry granules. Dark colour marked a line emerging from under the sands. Heads, claws, armors, and bodies. Remains, even. They trolled towards them.

Kylle saw them as if in slow motion. His smile still lingered, like he was welcoming them.

May be he was...

A small enduring moan heard from the boy. He's still closing his eyes. Kylle flicked his eyes to him for a fraction of second.

The trolling line stopped quite far. There were sounds of cluckings and gurgles, faint incessant disturbing whispers. They stood up from their stances, and tottered on their peculiar limbs slowly. There were two limbed, three, four, even uncountable-limbed creatures like centipede-things, only they were of bits and pieces of many things compiled together in an unnatural assemblages that in their own ways were something of an eerie art of misconceptions and cruelties.

Arms used in exchange of legs, heads half-drowned in mouths, skins and flesh ripped by tusks and horns, teeth covering exposed organs; and other uncanny things that were too much to be said out. Unbalanced. Functionally-impaired. Out of proportion. May be out of purpose. Bits of remnants fell from their bodies every now and then. Pungent smell poluted the air.

Who would make an army like those creatures...?! Would they even functioned as an army at all ?

They stopped a few meters from the boy, as if in defeat. Some of them let out howls and moans akin to suffering sounds. Reaching out their appendages.

Then he opened his mouth, and started to sing. A gentle song that put everything to sleep. It was short and almost unsignificant to tranced ears. And everything stopped. Even the winds stopped blowing for once.

No sound...

No movement...

A drop of clear moisture ended the moment. And the black disfigured creatures blasted all at once, fleshy remains into black dusts that scattered by the winds, solid remains into charcoaled remnants that fell to the sands. They coloured the sands into black. Dispersing everywhere opposite the Land.

Another drop of moisture marked their disappearence whitnessed by the Sun.

Kylle was a little taken aback when the creatures blasted suddenly. He put himself together in no time, though. Sauntered to the boy on the sands, and kneeled behind him at his right side without a say.

...he was crying soundlessly. With eyes still closed, and shivering body.

"Shall we head back to the Castile now...? Master Yuy..." Kylle asked slow and gently. A smile on his face, a real smile for once.

The boy didn't react for a long time, he turned his head eventually. Tear tracks wetted his cheeks. His face lack of expression, he stared Kylle waveringly.

..._his Human didn't want anything bad to happen to this Land... that's why..._

"Shall we..?" Kylle asked again encouragingly.

_...why did the humans hate them so much...? Was it because of how they look like..? Because they were different from what the humans' rational minds could take ?_

Kylle wiped the wet tracks with his thumb gently. He lifted the unresponsive boy in his arms, tucked his head on his chest. There was no sound of beating heart in it. Never was. That's why the boy knew he was not a human being from the beginning.

"You may rest in the way back. We'll be home before you know it...!" his voice didn't reverberate the chest, too. It was simply carried in the Air.

...and he had the Air around him even outside the barrier. As if he was made of it...

The boy stared with awareness slipping off his mind. He'd done what he could do...he could rest now.

..._when you moved on...where should you put the Past...?_

_...behind_

_or inside you ?_

Solo should've been here... he could make things easier to decide...

...even for him..

"...we are... what we become..." he whispered soundlessly to himself. "...You must have cried a lot, too...your tears bled your face.." he mouthed half-awarely.

Kylle still smiled to the Air...even though his eyes didn't say so..

---------------

Kylle watched the small beast-boy's face. Not with his eyes, but his heart's eyes, what remains of his subsisting conscience, something that only he could see through with, something that this Land hadn't managed to take over. Just something to see with his own vacant perspective...

His smile never leaving his face, but his eyes spoke differently. His light slow-motionly steps never faltered in the Forest, somehow he made it look like the Forest was following him. Maybe it did..

A bunch of Forest's beasts blocking his way, half-circling on the path where the Forest opened for him to walk. He drooped his eyelids halfclosed. The beasts of various sizes and kinds and shapes were bowing at him. Kylle blinked his eyes slowly.

'_You do aware of what I am to you...?'_

_He got a slow nod for answer._

He replayed the look in his deep prussian eyes directed at him. Lowered his head. If ever his movements got more slowed-in-time, as if he was trudging through a massive air, there were aerial-tracks from his every actions left in the Air behind him, like wafting shadows of whites.

He stopped eventually...

Closing his eyes, he extended the hands presenting the unconscious boy in them. Kylle passed him on to the beasts, the Forest. He always said it was his playground, but he was merely a keeper of the Forest, he never owned it. The One that owned him, owned the Forest, the whole Land. He tried to elude his mind from the thoughts, and just stopped...caring. What was right, and what was wrong. What was decent, and what was deceitful.

_Just walk straight and don't look back_, he said to himself.

Thus, he kept walking. Felt the moment he conceded to the task given to him, and the instant the boy's body taken by the Air and leaving his hands. He felt like a shadow, passed through the boy's body suspended in the space before him, and through the beast's bodies. Knowing that they would finish the job for him, as he couldn't do it by himself. That's why he always delayed the time to devour the beast-boy. Because he's not a devourer. Because he's not...

_...-before you know it.._. his own words echoed again and again in his ears.

The various beasts moved in on the unconscious boy floated in mid air, as if he were sleeping fairytale-ly. Although in the contrary, this would be a moment of cruelty, not one of the bedtime stories to put children to a peacefull slumber. He bit his lower lip.

..._to put a boy to an endless sleep..._., Kylle stopped at a respective distance behind the oncoming slaughter. He still had his eyes closed. But his heart's eyes were open...how he wished they're blind, just for once..! Because they were vacant...only a perspective of a dead conscience. Like a dead person's eyes that open to stare without awareness, without the ability to do anything, to feel anything.

For once there was no smile on his face..

For once he looked like a real human he supposed to disguise as.

For once he could feel the repulsion for the Order's system.

He gasped as he saw some of the beasts already set their tongues and dripping saliva on the boy's body. Felt the burnt smell of flesh by the acid in the liquids, a small prey-bird that looked like half lizard already had a good bite on the boy's right shoulder.

'_...You must have cried a lot, too...'._ That's right, he could only cry with his smile.

((_...mysht_ä:...!)) (3)

'_...we are... what we become...'_ the boy's whisper echoed in his mind. Still, even though he told the beasts to wait, he still had to proceed with his task sooner or later.

The beast heard his command and stepped back from the suspended body. They all looked at him waiting for the permission to proceed. Instead, Kylle approached the small body and retrieved it again from the Air's grasp. He stared at the prey-bird and opened the Underspace swallowing it, the poor bird didn't even have the chance to shriek when the white ground bursted white cloudy-tentacles to grab it down.

Kylle looked down at the suspended drips of blood from the boy's shoulder. They were of darker colour than natural blood, thicker liquid. Inside, he could discover specks of white glitters.

_Poison... alien-creature's seeds... _He informed himself.

"I will take care of him by myself, he's poisoned and likely a latent danger to YOU to devour...!" he said silently. And with that he wrapped the boy's body with the long shawl he wore in place of a cloak around his upper body, and left with the boy secured in his arms once again. Behind him the white cloudy-tentacles swallowed the poisoned blood from the Air to the Underspace.

He looked subdued in his walk.

((...unbidden...what Fate is...!))

"...Don't..!" he said in a low hiss, "...even try !" Two tails of long flowing scarf on a high tree bough didn't escape his mind's eyes. "Beast..."

'Thrice' let Kylle away with it. His visible eye stared at the spot where a few moments ago occupied with various beasts. ((you just have to bid for more rounds...!)) he echoed to himself, not really caring if Kylle heard it through the connection or not.

"...till you drunk..."

"and you have nothing left to gamble with..." he whispered.

A sad smile on his face, feeling the absent of the sadness he's not allowed to feel...

---------------

Yuy woke up from his exhausted rest, finding his own body somehow felt lighter than when he was on the outerside just then. His censor told him there were new wounds to put in his catalogue of injuries, only these wounds were somehow lighter in space. That meant they're like his spacial-wound he inflicted to himself when he took out the Ogreish-'I' from his owned-space somewhat.

He could guess who was responsible for them. The reprisal he accepted when he asked the enemy's hands for help. The hands owner didn't carry through the action to the end, though. He sat up and looked down. He was on the high tower's bench, with the plushy pillows scattered around his body, exactly like when his Human brought him there. He touched his throat with his left fingertips.

No, not a dream, he used his Voice to sing _that_ song...!

He turned his head around, finding no Kylle-person nor the spirit-Kylle shadowing him. Somehow he felt being left behind. By jeopardy..? His mind chided. Some part of his blood liked dangers, he was aware of that, some part of his mind liked deaths, too.

A cool breeze blew through the open windows. His ears caught a familliar muted-sound so very close. Alerted by curiousity he got up from his seat. His body definitely felt lighter, he thought. A pair of white 'wings' floated in the soft winds behind his back. Just like 'Thrice''s flowing cloak. He looked back, and realized it was Kylle's long shawl he used to cover his shoulders with. When he woke up he thought it was just another blanket. The shawl pooled on his shoulders and covered his body almost to his knees, he looked down at his legs, he never really realized his body was that small compared to his.

So that's what making his body felt lighter, the Air didn't oppresed him so much... He blinked.

Then, what did it mean..?

He massacred a bunch of his own kinds, -actually they were what Colle' would refer to as their society's dregs- and instead of reprisal he got himself Kylle-person's ...what ? ...approval ? ...protection..?

He frowned. He felt like a traitor. He didn't do it to get any benefits on his behalf, he did it because he thought he'd make Human feel at ease even for a little.

His own resentment felt more like razorblades on his internal injuries, especially right there where the craft-plate clutching his heart and other vital organs with its black-roots, as if punishing him for his treacherous deeds. He sighed softly, part of daily karma...!

A little lightheaded, he sauntered down the tower stairs, didn't really have an aim to get to. He didn't want to face Human so fast, needed to center himself first. The long corridors were as if deserted, there seemed to be no activities in this part of the Castile. He didn't enjoy too much companies, so he wished his daily space could be like this, quiet and undemanding. He wondered if that's what it'd feel like in the tomb. Guess he never really knew what being dead felt like, always got reborn right after another death...

A small smile crept on his face. This lifetime wasn't so bad...for the most part, or may be mostly in these last parts. Hope it would last longer than the lastlife...

Right at that moment Deia spotted him walking halftrance-ly passing the junction of the corridors. _She_ was going to call out to him, but _she_ noticed that he was preoccupied enough that he didn't aware of _her_ presence. Feeling concerned, _she_ followed him from a respective distance. He turned from the corridor, and Deia felt an anxiety just as his body disappeared from _her_ sight.

A loud slap sound jolted _her_ to halfrun, it echoed in _her_ ears, feeling a sharp sting on the left cheek in _her_ mind. _She_ found 'Thrice' stood with his right hand lifted around his left chest, Yuy stood with his back to _her_, his face turned to the rightside apparently from the blow. Deia was going to snap at the Charms, but recognizing the red-flaming anger in his visible eye, _she_ swallowed it. 'Thrice''s face looked so hard that a little movement seemingly will crack it, he glared so wide that the whites of his eye was visible surrounding his burning iris.

_She_ never saw 'Thrice' looked that angry before. Perhaps because he'd never got that angry in the past, or may be because he never showed much of his emotions before.

"...How low could you degrade yourself in one lifetime...?!" a low rancorous hiss froze _her_. _Her_ mind felt like another slap directed at _her_. _She_ widened _her_ eyes, unable to move.

'Thrice' stared him down for a very long seconds. The boy didn't move a fraction under his glare, didn't even move a muscle on his face, his closed expression never changed. Knowing the boy wouldn't answer to him, 'Thrice' left in a rigid walk and flowing cloak and two-tails of scarf behind him.

"Little Lady...!" he greeted Deia passingly without looking at _her_.

A long moment after his departure, the boy started to walk again, a little faster than before. Deia snapped to motion right away. "What was that all about...?!"

"Yuy...!!" _she_ called out when the boy seemed like ignoring _her_ in his pace, following him with long strides. Tried to catch the flowing shawl to stop him, but the cloth slipped from _her_ grasp like the air.

_She_ didn't get any response no matter what _she_ said, either. _She_ even threatened him _she_ won't ever talk to him if he didn't notice _her_ but he's as stubborn as hell if he meant it, or may be his mind was too out of it. So _she_ shut up for the rest of the walk. They stopped by Odin's door. He knocked and waited to be let in. Deia lingered by the half open door, watching him ignoring _her_, with scowl on _her_ face.

Odin put the reports in his hands on the table, he was half surprised by the two visitors, mostly by their attitudes. "Yes ?" he asked to the boy, noticing he backed his right shoulder a little than his left one. His soldier experience told him that apparently his wound from the poison-plant was still dangerous enough for others.

"...Sir.." the boy began in a whisper. "I want to join the ranks of your forces..!"

Odin blinked. "I won't accept someone with communication difficulty as a soldier, Kid, too risky for other soldiers."

"I can talk if it's necessary..." he said with a soft slightly nasal voice, "...just not too often or better not in the presence of strangers..!" Odin lifted his brows. "My voice is...distinctive..!" the boy added. Odin had to admit that far, his voice was addictive to most hearings, he felt somekind of a longing after he heard his utterance for the first time back then. He could only guess what happen if someone hears his voice everyday. The Wilds that had better hearings would recognize him immediately.

Odin frowned a little, he looked inquiringly at Deia by the door, _she_ was half in with a hand holding the panel covering half _her_ body as if didn't want to intrude them. "...I would like to..." _she_ swallowed once, "thank you for your gift...!"

"I'll take good care of it !" _she_ promised determinedly as if to _her_self, knowing what imlpied in _her_ words.

Odin lifted one brow, that was not the answer he sought from _her_, but he was glad. "...You're welcome !" Then looked back at the boy who was watching him like a hawk at ease. "Have you ever been in war...?"

"Several times..."

"Attacker or defender ?"

"...I've been both !"

"For what reason ?"

"Many things...!"

Odin brushed his chin with a thumb. "Who do you fight for..?!"

"Owners." that was without hesitation, Deia noted with an unconsciously clenched fist.

"As what...?" right at that time, a report relayed to him from one of the Charms, "I don't need a deadly weapon in my troops !" –_especially one who could exterminate others just as easily..!_ he thought to himself, knowing what a danger such a weapon could be turned up against by the enemies, or that such a weapon could turn allies to enemies.

He didn't answer to that. Odin observed him closely, but his straight face didn't give much. "Did you follow the owners' order or did you want to by yourself ?"

"I wanted to, if I didn't give my consent I wouldn't be in a battle. I accepted the ownership upon me, so the owner could use me freely in the limit my approbation allowed."

That got a deeper frown from the General, "Somehow I didn't catch that from your concession back then..!"

"...that was supposedly the unwritten law, but most of them didn't follow it nowadays..." he said silently.

"Why...?" he paused to see if any case his face change. Nothing. "...-do you want to fight ?"

Yuy took a long pause before he whispered out, "...because of my half-humanity..."

"So it's not to serve your Human or to protect _her_ homeland...!"

He didn't answer, he knew that his Human would protect him instead, keep him in a savebox, even, if the condition ever get that far. "How if your half-other raciality(4) confront you with its race, you'd fight for its sake too...?"

"I won't take sides...!" he said calmly. "...I could be a traitor just once in a lifetime, can't do it twice or more... my ego won't accept that..". Odin opened his mouth to asked another question, but he beat him to it. "...unless Human wish for me to do so or any other way...!" that said with a tinge of finality in it.

Odin sighed, he glanced at Deia. "You okay with this ?". _She_ got a hard face frowning at the boy as answer, but _she_ didn't say no. "I'll discuss this matter with others first before I could give you my answer...-!"

"What would it be..?" –pause, "..your answer"

Odin stared him, "In time like this I could use a good strength...-" he left it at that, "But someone might consider you fit better in the Special Force...!". That got him a nasty stare from Deia. "But it's a long way to climb to get there !" he amended.

Yuy nodded once, "I'll start from the lowest rank..!" he whispered.

"...'Sir." he greeted to excuse himself. Then turned to the door and left the room, knowing Deia still tailing him rigidly.

"So you've made up your mind, hu ?" Deia said acidly when they entered _her_ chamber again. "'Guess you won't be occupying my chamber anymore, then..!"

"That means I could use my study agai-..." A Prussian with his head bowed on _her_ shoulder stopped _her_ angry remark. A surrendering gesture, just like two years ago before he started speaking in whispers.

"...if you wish me to... I could move to the soldier's barr-..."

"No !!" a cold feeling run up _her_ spine at the mention of the barrack. Not that it wasn't decent or anything, just because he was much smaller compared to the other soldiers, and _she_ feared they would pick on him despite his strength. _Yeah, right..!_ _Her_ mind chided, _you just want him for yourself, even of his sight alone you don't want to share..!!_

"...I want you here with me...!" _she_ held his small frame. "Always ! ...is that too much to ask ?"

_Her_ cheek brushed his, and _she_ knew it. "You cried !" _she_ frowned. He pulled back a little and turned his head from _her_, still bowed down. _She_ sighed deeply, and guided his head back to _her_ shoulder.

"Alright...!" stroked his back gently for a long moment, feeling his taut body melted in _her_ hands, along with _her_ selfishness. "You protect me from _them_...! I'll protect you from your-_self_ !!" _she_ compromised. But there was no response from him, just silence. _She_ frowned feeling something was off. And decided to see his face, only to find him fast asleep.

Deia widened _her_ eyes with a gasp, "Prussian...!"

"-...you... how-...that was a cool promise to make...! You hear me?! I know you do..!! You can hear things even if you're sleeping...!!!" ...Then what's _her_ problem...?!

_She_ let out a growl, and took a few deep breaths to calm _her_self.

"...'guess you are in recuperation still..!" _she_ sighed, he's always in recuperation most of the time! And took him back to _her_ bed. What's with him always sneaking out to someplace else the Air knows where when _she_ left him in _her_ bed alone, anyway...!

---------------

---------------

(1) Relic-prayer; the name of a type of big birds...they're usually spotted haunting the ruins or cemetaries and such in groups, they had a voice (that's right, voice! not sound) like a crooning of a maiden chanting or lamenting prayersongs. When they cried out lamenting-voice was believed as the sign of a bad omen that usually followed with a major disaster in the land.

(2) 'because I'll be with you...don't disappear on me' -more or less

(3) ancient language , it's not really mean a word, just negation..

-apparently of his own language, not Archantra language.The beasts understood because of the link between him, them, and the Forest. Will get to that explaination later-

(4) ...don't know if it was a word, but you get what it meant, right...?

Hummmm...just want to make something clear...

- the words '_Fairs_' or '_Charms_' saru use in the fic are suppose to be a singularize-plural word (is that term correct??). Kind of like the opposite of 'people', don't have the (s) attached behind but it means plural, right? And that you don't have to put an (s) to pluralize it again...like 'charmss's'...-chuckling in stupidity-

It's because when someone said it, that person didn't refer to the number but to their qualities; like for example "multigifted" for the 'Charms'...and yeah, when saru have to add an ('s) or write (a Charms), saru' eyes stumbled on them too 'coz they just didn't sound right, so you're not the only ones complaining...

promised lovers quarrels, right? scratch that, it's most likely one-sided-lovers quarrels.

...although still vague, hahaa...

and on with the war...saru don't really like writing politics, though...!


	16. forsaken colour

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku june 21, 2007 **

**# 16 Forsaken Colour **

_to see, to be seen_

_to find, to be found_

_I saw you in front of me with my unseeing eyes_

_You found me just by reaching out your hand_

_I accepted your hand as the weaver of my Fate's thread_

_but were you searching for me...?_

There were several cases more found of the genocide-thing poisoned issue...three to be exact. Well, two were the same case as Odin's, one merchant and a domesticated beast. The other one was of another type of poison found in a type of plantation crops. The Charms were forced to sealed the whole farm so they wouldn't infect other things. Yuy was right about how the poisons worked, they changed the bodies in their base-form. If they were aware of the term, they'd say 'to the genetics level'.

Lyea, helped by a few healer-Charms, managed to extricate the neutralizer for the genocide-thing from Odin's blood, tinkered it with a few other domestic poisons, and they got the antidote. Actually, as Yuy had said before, there was no cure for it, so she guessed it was just a silencer for the poison's effect, not that it was terminated.

The wound in his righthand never really cured, though he said it was okay now. The open wound was gone, but there was discoloration left on where the Ogreish-'I''s tentacles seized his arm. A pattern of dim silver shimmers that was visible especially in the dark. The screeching-plant marked him as its, somehow. It disheartened Deia a little, not by the fact that he was less _her_s, but because he took no importance of it. As if it was of natural course.

May be it was... From the Ogreish-'I''s perspective, it gave its life for his account, then he should be part of it or make itself part of him. Something of equal trade...? Odin had said something of making two of his hemispheres into one world, but Deia never really comprehend what he meant, or what it implied. 'I be your live, you be my death' _she_ could understand, but that's different, ofcourse. In _her_ logic, that's something like cause-and-result rule, but what Odin said was something like adding the cause to result to neutralize whatever the outcome was; that just not... be..! If you add +1 in the future to the –1 of your past, that made you have zero in the present. But life's not like math, you didn't commit felony in the past because you know the future will judge you, and you're paying whatever the conviction was in the present. That's what this land taught _her_ of living.

The openland of Eyränd was the closest neighbouring country to Archantra, but both lands were never really acquainted in a good political relationship. Eyränd's territory covered a very wide range of lands, and Archantra was a very small country not even as big as Eyränd's capital, or its second biggest city. In a more sarcastic view, Archantra was only a small white speck on the map. Ofcourse, when you put the OWL's attacks in the conversation, that map showed growing lines of sand-colour on Eyränd's territory marked from the outerside going inward. In reality, that growing sand-area only widened the separating desert of both countries more and more.

Unfortunately for that land's suburbian people, Eyränd's sovereignty was not a very considerate family, being given the tasks of governing such a large country had its disadvantage, right now they're short of good leader qualities. As much as they're short on human resources. The royal family lost their crowned prince at early age (some said it was a planned death), and with the King in a not very good health the monarchs were wrangling in lenghty disputes with each other over the throne.

As for the Charms who were being sent there, they could fullfill their jobs without any significant incidents, but still said something about better facing the OWLs than Eyrändist Monarchs. Groups of Charms were sent to aid others countries, each group had one Charms from the Special Force as the leader. 'Octonary' was the leader of the aid for Eyränd, somehow that made him had to make frequent contact with Lyea for disscussing political matters, which in the case was to be avoided.

'Thrice' was sent as the leader to Grandmongrel, 'Seventh' was in his group, who was making himself useful as his brakes. Since Grandmongrel was an autonomic trading city which mostly specialized in livestock-trades for a living. There was at least one rockheaded person who would bid for 'Thrice' in every two days, of which 'Seventh' would shoo them off rather politely before they got some unforgetable and rather traumatizing if not lethal retribution from a cold burning 'Thrice'. Well, it's natural for a beast to act beastly sometimes, right...?

'Alder' was sent to Furndeisth's territory, he was actually the field-leader of healer-Charms, to the city of Runeshine instead of Stegāto since Furndeisth's governments decided to just quarantine that town with their own magics. But still they accepted the Charms as medical aids.

Now for Rűdern, since their people never really trust magic-users, Howard could only sent some 'healer-practitioners' there. Of course when it came to the Charms, they needed to disguise their distinctive eye colors, because you couldn't just say that 'our healers are all blinds'...! To his incredulousness, despite their fanatisms to magic-users, that land had a very strong magic-repellent. Although it might just came naturally with the land's environments.

There were also helpers from other countries, some of faraway lands Lyea only ever heard from stories and not from maps. They're mostly from the northern-earth, passed the Great-Shark's Maxilla(1) to the damp lands. Incredibly skilled craftsmen and spiritual hermits, the reports said.

"Hermits...?" Lyea quipped. Now, why would hermits choose to aid faraway lands, crossed the untamed stormy icebarriers of the Shark's? Lyea rolled Skirr in her hand gently. Unless they had the same objectives with them. Then, that meant no good. No good at all.

"So the OWL's attacks had already spread to their lands, too...?!" the clear crystal in her hand didn't answer.

It was only two months passed from Odin's incident; they all referred it as that just to tease him. Yuy had joined the training for almost the same length of time. To anyone's astonishment, Commander Crüdeo was very good –underlined good- with children. Yep!! Marked children. The man lost his first born about 8-years ago, his wife visited him in the Castile once, when she was pregnant, and it turned out that the baby was a boy, and already dead when she delivered it. Another casualty in the Castile's expense.

And to Deia's sulkiness. Watching that goaty bearded man treating _her_ Prussian like a long lost nephew, earned the Castile another series of _happenstances_. Still at moments like that, _she_ couldn't just barge in to the soldiers' practice-court and say 'I wanna play, too..!' or something like that, with ashen heart hid behind _her_ spring-worth smiles _she_ had to admit to _her_self that _she was a girl wearing a dress_ instead of a boy holding weapons in his hands side by side with the little Wildling that somehow looked a bit free-er since he joined the soldiers' trainings. May be he did feel free-er from _her_...

Deia often stole glances from faraway windows to the stone-field, finding his distinctive image among the croud of soldiers. Then looked away with a bruised heart _she_ always hid from him when he had the time to be with _her_. Not knowing that each time _she_ stared at him from afar, his senses centered on _her_, picking small signs and stored them in his to-be-compensated-later list. As Odin predicted, and others, Deia still wanted him to stay in _her_ chamber, but he could only allowed the boy to get 'home' only for once a week. To everyone's astonishment, the boy had uncharacteristicly said "...I told you so,...mother hen..." rather coldly to Deia right after Odin told them that rule. Saved Odin from stating the reasons or excuses, though to his dismay, he saw the hurt of betrayal flickered in _her_ eyes before _she_ retorted with selsifh angry antics that had made Lyea and The Lord have to calm _her_ down, _she_ surrendered rather childishly. But that was just an act to keep 'Deia's mask' on _her_ face, he could see it clearly now, the difference of _her-self_ _she_ hid under _her_ shadow and the Deia-acts. May be others of _her_ inner circle noticed too, it was as if someone that used to be hiding behind _her_ started to silently stalking _her_ instead.

When did it happened, he couldn't fathom. Maybe because the _self_ was always hidden there instead of Deia. Now, who did he try to fool? Deia was never around, she's dead in her mother's womb before she was even born. Then that made the 'Deia' they always knew as who...? An illusion they all force-built together ? A sad rememberance of their failure they couldn't admit..?

A presence disclosed itself from Odin's senses, the General lifted his brows from their crease before he looked behind his back. A pair of prussian gems were almost shining in the shade of the stable, a fair face with the lower half covered with black armor, the unruly brown hair. A calm air around him. Not like his usual persevering air the man sensed from him before he joined the force.

He wasn't there a few seconds ago, or maybe a second ago...that's how fast he could ambush someone if he wanted to, the man realized.

"I see you've made friends with my warsteed here...he didn't allert me of you coming from behind my back!" Odin said with smile. The black warsteed only flicked its eyes to the man's face at its side, then back at staring forward. Perhaps staring at the boy, letting him enter its space, but he didn't come nearer from where he stood a good one and a half meters from them.

"It's Sun's day, shouldn't Lady Deia keep you in _her_ bearhug till evening...?" Odin focused his eyes back to his brushing the warsteed's mane. There were no answer from the boy behind him, not even the slightest response. He lifted one brow inquiringly to him. "You two had a fight or something...?"

The boy shook his head slowly.

"You have something to talk to me about ?"

The boy blinked and shook his head again.

Odin smirked, "...you have some discussion with my warsteed..?". The stable workers reported to him that the boy frequently came to the horse and just stared at each other for a long time. The infamous horse let him close enough that he was literally under its muzzle was a big affair for them, since the warsteed usually never let anyone else get in its space, besides Odin, he did the grooming by himself, ofcourse when he had the time aside the general's jobs. An ignorant stableboy almost lost his whole arm once when he accidently reached out his hand deeper then necessary into the cubicle to add the food. The horse only accepted hand-feeding from Odin's hand, it would chew the food including the hand if it's not him. Anyway, who would dare to hand-fed a carnivoral horse...?

The boy blinked again. A look of wonder shone covertly in his prussian eyes, how a human being could think of so many thoughts at the same time never ceased his curiosity towards them. Shifting from one topic then to another, from one feeling and others, mixed and sorted, ebbing and overlapping, come and go. Almost like an endless lapping waves at a seashore. He blinked again, the man was watching him with an analytical stare. He widened his eyes a little, watching the man watching him. Comprehension dawned on the man's eyes and he just snorted. The boy blinked, comprehension of what? Of what he's doing...? Of his interest..?

"You're one piece of art, aren't you, Boy...?! Who made you like that?". That sounded like a rhetorical question, the boy noted, sometimes the humans questioned just for the sake of questioning. That was highly uneffective..!

..._a question without answer wanted_... kind of like himself... His spirit downed a little, he averted his gaze from the man and his warsteed in front of him, and stared at the warsteed's frontlegs fetlocks instead.

Odin sensed his change of mood and misunderstood the cause. "The reports said you're an adept learner..!"

The boy looked at him when he suddenly changed the topic, felt a cloud of remorse wafting from him. The warsteed snorted once and swished its tail a couple of times. He flicked at it then back to the man's strong back presented at him. "...I'm a one-time learner..., Colle' said.." he whispered silently.

"...showed once..or told once..or tried once... Like that?"

The boy shrugged one shoulder. "...his words..!"

Odin snorted, "...About that Collector...-!" and looked at the boy, who was shaking his head slowly, his eyes spoke a gentle forbiddance. The man shrugged indifferently, "...okay!".

"You liked him, didn't you..?"

A nod.

"Still do?"

"Yes.." straight answer.

"Did he mistreated you..?"

"That's just a matter of perspective.." indifferent tone.

Odin hummed low. "What did you mean by 'my half-humanity'..?"

The boy flicked his head as a shrug. The man felt like he was missing that gesture somewhat for he seldomly showed that beastly habits anymore, he stared inquiringly at the boy, waiting for his answer in any way of form.

"...I just said it because at the time...that kind of answer would be...approved-..? ..for you..."

Just an excuse, then. "So basically we don't share the same humanity..?"

"My humanity could be different from your humanity..." he whispered fluidly.

"Like what...?"

Another flick of head.

"You didn't answer my question before...You and Deia had a fight or something?" Odin smirked, his tone was lighter, tinged with curiosity, maybe even a little concern, the boy noted. So that wasn't a rhetorical question, afteral. It's relevant, he could answer that.

"...Human was trying dresses with Lady..." he whispered a bit sullenly. Odin made a sound of understanding. "They wanted you to tell them what you think of those, and you said something in the line of 'they're all fine' or 'adequate', and they threw you out...?!" he said with a grin. After that, Odin noted to himself that the boy looked cuter when he pouted, even though his half face hidden by the armor, his eyes showed his pout. He looked innocently humane, and that's sinfully enchanting.

"Clothces are clotches no matter how you see of it from any perspective. I lived unclothed for the most time, anything adequate would be fine...! You need something that serves its purpose; when you don't need the purpose, you don't need the thing !"

Odin blinked, so that's what it's like from his view. Very..._practical _?

"Well, when females wanted you to tell them what you think of their appearences, you tell them what they wanted to hear instead, not what you really think...!" Odin said with a low chuckle. That kind of ritual really grated him, too, he told himself. That's why he couldn't stand women, speaking of in romantic relationship.

"...isn't that counted as lying...?" he sounded resentful, though his eyes shone with incomprehension.

Odin thought about it, "You would want them to feel good about it, wouldn't you? About themselves more than about you..! When you tell them what they wanted, they'll feel good about themselves, and that's not a lie, right...? Not your words, but your feelings." Ofcourse, that logic had so many flaws that could backfire at him, but for the boy Odin thought the reasoning would help a little.

The boy only stared him with a frown. "...that's... relevant..." he whispered after a long pause. His mind supplied him with the fact that that kind of rule didn't apply in his place before..you're lying when you lied, no matter for what reasons and feelings were invalid, and liars were to be punished. "Ofcourse it does..!" Odin smirked.

"...although..." the boy continued furtively, "Human is Human, Human doesn't have to be Lady or others..." as if said to himself. Odin stared him rather judiciously, the boy must have perceived it that Deia was not a girl from the start. "Circumstances and life...?" he tried. The boy shrugged one shoulder, "...not mine to judge..!". That's a closure to the topic, Odin noted.

"...What does 'more than hell' mean ?" the boy asked straightforwardly. "Human said that more than once...if not verbally, Human thought of it.. rather outragedly..!" he continued before the man could ask his reason of curiousity.

"About what ?" better be safe.

"...OWLs...!" the boy cocked his head, must be from Deia's habitual gestures.

"Hmmmm...that's kind of tricky to explain to you...!" Odin said more to himself. "May bee-... What do you think about our lives here..?" he watched the boy again, looking for his beastly-gestures he might showed.

"Sufficient..." that sounded final, Odin noted with dismay, he sighed to himself. Explaining would be easier than to make him comprehend the explanation. If he asked the boy about what his life was like in the OWLs place, he guessed he might just say 'adequate' for answer.

"Try other scale... good, bad...moderate, excessive...?"

The boy blinked. "Inefficient..?" he said flatly. Odin slumped his shoulder, this was harder than he thought it would.

"Let's try other approach. You like living here..?"

At the boy's nod Odin continued, "What is it that you don't like, not just here, talk about anywhere, anything."

He thought about it for a second. "Losing my-_self_.."

Odin stored that answer in the boy's data in his mind. "What do you hate?". This seemed to be on the right track.

"...to hate." Odin was a little surprised by the answer but he didn't show it.

"How about what you like the most, doesn't necessary have to be only one.."

This time he took longer time to think about it. "...deaths.." his first answer stunned Odin to frozen, he was sure it would be 'Human' first. "...sky...alive..." took another pause to think, "...alone..."

His eyes stared back the reality, "Alone..." he repeated with finallity to himself. Odin gaped, "...What about Deia..?" he couldn't help himself. The boy stared him with straight half-incomprehending eyes. Small frown. "...what I want..!" he whispered breathily, as if stating the obvious to an ignorant person.

Odin sweatdropped, cleared his throat to collect himself. "Okay, then what else do you want..?"

The boy only lifted his brows in another incomprehension. Okay, just Deia, then. Added another sweatdrop.

"Now...try to apply what you don't like and hate to what you like and want..!"

"They're irrelevant..!"

Odin stared him with perception dawned in his mind. That was the boy's self-protection system, separating his negatives in life from his positives, so they would never clash and turn his world to chaos. Reality happens, but would never interfere his world. He would never drown when his wheel turn him on the down-side, would never be choked by the height when he's on the up-side. The balanced ruins that could never be broken down by anything unless by himself...just like the weapon he made, the Genocide-poison…

"...Just try?" Odin said softly and gave him the time to tinker the subjects.

The boy blinked and spaced out, his eyes darken with the unwanted probabilities he never pondered. A sudden jerk of body, visible shiver ran up his frame. He looked like he was tottering backwards, before he snapped and embraced himself with both hands and bended forward. Odin didn't expected the effect of just mulling some thoughts would be that corporal. He let the boy took all the time he needed to get his footing back and just watched him spaced out and in from the here and now.

Noticing that he had only stilling his small body for sometime now, Odin said silently, "That would be what a hell like to you...!"

The boy took a few breaths span before responding distractedly. "...but that would be...different for...everyone.."

Odin smiled to himself. "Yes, it would. I was just trying to give you the impression of what hell would be like...!"

The boy's head snapped to him. "...then it wouldn't happen, really..?!"

Odin gazed at the boy's pleading eyes. "...No..!" he said, _I hope not. What ever your hell is like..! _

The boy spaced out again, his eyes got even darker than before. "...right... Human wouldn't be me..." he whispered low to himself. Odin's brow arched at his deliberation. "...Human's not me..."

_His hell is himself..?!_ Odin thought stunnedly. But before he could utter something, the boy fled from the stable in a flash, not even had the chance to blink he'd disappear from his sight.

The warsteed nickered and shook its head, tapped the stable floor with one of its frontlegs a couple of times, let out another long nicker.

"Yeah...that went well, alright! 'Guess I just ruined someone's perspective, hu...?" Odin said stroking the beast's muzzle. It just answered him with a snort.

---------------

Circa was a relative to 'Octonary'. You could say that he was his distant cousin. They're so distantly related that he had no endowment as a Charms at all, that's what he used to joke about himself to others. But someone close to him might notice his natural gift that he himself never really spoke highly of. For the most time Yuy shared a room in the soldier barracks, he recognize immediately that the teen human had a knack for inventing. He's very talented at that, in fact. His family pressed him to have achievement in the forces, being the only son and the eldest of six younger sisters. He never really enjoyed being in the army, but he marveled the absence of his parents' pressures in his ears directly.

"You're VERY early...!" he stated when he saw the boy entered the room.

"...I apologize...!" he answered distantly. That earned a deep frown from Circa. He extracted himself from the room's corner where he was building his newest project, and came to the boy's side on the lower bunk. Took the wooden chair and sat, folding his arms on the chair's back at his front.

"You had a fight with the Young Lady...?" he asked carefully but straightforwardly, indeed. The boy shook his head slowly, still distracted out of his reality. "You don't seem like you miss me or anything...!" he added with a smirk. At the boy's another shake, he popped some artery in irritation. "You don't have to be THAT honest, really...!!" he growled to himself.

"...what is hell to you...?" Yuy asked still distantly.

"Hell...?!" Circa repeated a bit incredulously. He snorted jokingly, "Well, hell for me would be like when yo-...". His jokingly exagerated voice faltered when he met Yuy's serious and darkened eyes. Wide, and he could say they're a bit...hurt.

"...Is this one of that high-philosopized moments..?" he asked flatly. Yuy averted his eyes to the floor again, "...maybe just a rhetorical question...", he whispered.

Circa snorted with a frown, "All questions should have answers to them...!"

Yuy's head snapped at his. "Yes...?" That was a bit too expecting, Circa noted. "Hell, yeah..!!". At the boy's frown he just shrugged, thinking that his way of speaking wouldn't add more confusion to him. Hopefuly... "Even in the form of 'I don't have the answer for that'..!"

"Then why would someone ask such a question...?"

Circa arched his brow, wasn't he the one who asked that kind of question to him? He scrutinized the wide deep-blue eyes staring at him. And gave a mental nod to himself. Yep, definitely one of those moments of high-_questioned_...!

"Because you know half the answer..." he started. The boy blinked slowly, his eye colour shifted to darker, then to lighter, back to darker shade again. Circa took note of the things his eyes could see hidden in those wide eyes. "...and.. you'd want someone else to agree with you...". Blacken shade. Bad things he didn't expected, then.

"...or to deny that..!". Confused stare, marked as stormy colour of darker and lighter shades. Hopeful stare, marked with the widening of the beast-eye pupils and waveringly fighting for that hope.

"...or add the other half of the answer?". Jackpot!! The boy's eye pupils widened to match a normal human's eyes. But in a second they're thinned to beast-eye slitted pupils again, like a closed window. A window to his soul.

A vulnerable window for a beautiful soul, he thought.

"Why would you ask such a question...?" he asked back.

"...because I don't want to know the answer..." That was almost sounded like a question rather than a statement. Maybe he was asking himself..

"This got to do with you coming back earlier than usual...?" Circa arched both brows inquiringly. Yuy shook his head again.

"Human was trying dresses with Lady...!" he said blandly.

"Ah! Girl's-things...!!" Circa messed Yuy's already unruly hair, "...Growing pains! You'll get the hang of it eventually...!" added a few gentle pats on his head, then got back to his project. Sensing the boy's eyes watching his every move.

He chuckled to himself. "...I have six younger sisters..!" and added passingly.

. . . . . . . . . "..You know a lot of pains...!"

At that Circa's chuckle broke to laughter. A merry laughter. He loved his sisters heartfully, with all the consequences he had to pay for loving them.

---------------

A steady burn of white flame...

burned his-_self_ to non-existence

soaring to the sky

seeking deaths...

as it was adoring lives

alone...

but in its solitude the universe never left him unbothered

that's why he'd said it twice...

always having something, someone to be yearned for

but always being the only solitary soul

...his hell would be...

to hate his Human..

_...I was to be Human's death..._ he repeated in his mind. _Human wanted me so..._

That hell would come with Time eventually..!

_...yakusoku da yo...! _

it's a promise !

---------------

Small trivial battles added to the happenstances in their lives, small insignificant skirmishes that were somewhat never ceased. Archantra was somehow left out of the major ones, unlike the neighboring larger countries. Perhaps the OWLs thought it was only a small whitespeck on the map of their battlegrounds that they could focus their attacks on it later when they already got the major lands in their claws. That irritated Deia a little bit more than necessary.

"They're underestimating us...!!" _she_ half yelled in Lyea's study. Books and papers and report-scrolls and maps scattered unceremoniously everywhere. A high stack of books next to the bookrack on one of the corner avalanched at the sound of _her_ voice.

Lyea sighed and smoothed her brows with her fingers. "Deia, please don't make more things to be tidied up in my study...!" she said blandly.

"...AS IF WE'RE OF NO WORTHY ENEMY...!!" Deia shouted to the ceiling, mostly just to drown Lyea's complaint. But another unbalanced stack of things toppled over somewhere in the room.

"Shouldn't we be grrrateful of that fact...?!" Lyea said pressing the 'grate' in 'grateful' as if saying 'you're _grate-_ing on my nerves now'.

Deia slumped _her_ body to the chair rather roughly. It was hard enough to make another avalanche on Lyea's desk.

"They're really grating on my nerves, now..!!" _she_ growled. Lyea stared _her_ wideeyed, _that's MY line...!!_ Her mind sneered, but she didn't show it on the outside. That's a politician to you...!

"Well, at least the HUMANS still count us in...!" she said instead.

"Oh, so you're going to go to Viricidia..!" Somehow Deia's mood brightened dramatically. Lyea stared _her_ with half-lidded eyes of suspicions.

"...That's a drastic change..!!" she said flatly, she meant Deia's change. Deia bounced on the chair repeatedly with childish merryness. "Isn't it..?!" _she_ asked brightly, "So, what dress will you wear..??"

Lyea sighed again. Picking up the strewn things from her desk on the floor and walked to the closed shelve to put them orderly. "I mean you...!" She couldn't get out of the Land for that long span of time, anyway, she was _the_ Lady of the Land, after all..!!

"I'm...going to Viricidia...?" Deia took it differently with puzzlement.

"No, Deia. I mean your ch-...". Wait, that could work..!

"You're interested in political ball...?" Lyea asked incitingly.

Deia's bounce stopped. _She_ had a deep contemplatory expression, chewing _her_ forefinger's end lightly. "...I sure don't like politics, but I could use a party for a change...!" _she_ mulled it seriously.

"Are you sure you wouldn't turn the HUMANS to enemies instead...?!" Lyea said half condescendingly.

"Like you didn't pound the art of sweet-talking into me for years, Sister...!" Deia stared through halflidded eyes in irritation. Lyea chuckled.

"You're just considering of taking Yuy for a vacation outside..!!" Lyea said sounded jokingly, but she knew her _sister_ would be considering that seriously now.

A half-stunned look showed on Deia's face, the expression of being caught-in-the-act kind of thing. That brought another laughter from Lyea. She knew Deia well enough. Maybe even more than enough...

---------------

Circa tried to pry the lever to move with a crowbar. This was certainly a malfunction, you're not suppose to operate a lever using a crowbar, even a fool would know that. He swore under his breath silently. The passing cold wind across the prairie chilled his anger a little.

"...excuse me..!" the soft melodious voice startled him, and his crowbar slipped and cut his right hand.

"Oh,...Young Lady!" half nervously Circa turned and found the 14-years old _girl_ stood next to the tree shading his present workspace. His left hand sought the hand towel for his bleeding cut blindly.

"Yuy...?" _she_ smiled with a knowing look that the soldier would know what _she_ asked to him. This was Land's-day(2), and Yuy was suppose to have the work half-day. They settled for a horse-riding for the afternoon. Well, actually Deia wanted to go for a ride and Yuy as _her_ well known guardian-beast (the title remained mostly since he showed his superiority to the other soldiers as a beast) would follow _her _wishes without needing to be asked.

"Uhmm..." Circa searched for the right words, a little unnerved by Deia's presence, not wanting to disappoint the famous Light of Archantra in flesh. But he decided being straightforward usually worked best. "...he's on patrol to the eastern suburbs. They didn't get the daily report from the village supervisor third time in a row for today..!" he ended with clearing his throat.

"Today isn't his patrol-shift...!" Deia frowned a little.

"Yes! He filled in for Ley, the second rank..? His sister gave birth to her first child..-"

"Mea shouldn't due until next week...!" Deia's brows creased deeper.

"Oh, you know her..!" Deia helped in the healer-Charms infirmary for most time of _her_ days. "She fell off the stairs this morning." Circa informed _her_ rather uneventfully. Deia widened _her_ eyes. "No! Nothing too serious..! Both her and the baby were fine, she's just a little shocked by her fall, that's all..!!"

"Oh...that's great!" Deia sighed. "Here, let me fix that for you...!"

"You shouldn't..! This thing's fine, I'm working on it..!!" he gave nervous chuckle and grinned widely. Deia stared with a knowing look and a nice smile on _her_ face. "I mean your hand...!"

"Oh, right..! No, really, it's just a small cut...-"

Deia took his bleeding hand and kept _her_ hands on each sides of it in a respective distance. "I believe this is my fault...!" _she_ said with a smile, letting out healing-wave now known as a new talent for the girls. Charms were known to boys, the discovery of the new talent was not until about a year ago when suddenly girls with healing ability started to popped up everywhere. Lyea suspected it had something to do with the scheme of the OWL's, perhaps the side-effect of some poison or something, but it made a good cover for Deia's real-ability so _she_ wouldn't stand out or suspected. Still, it was too accurate to be called a coincidence...as if it was planned.

"I'll go look for him. Thanx..!" Deia excused _her_self once the cut was gone. Leaving Circa staring _her_ disappeared from his sight.

---------------

"You're early...!" Fern said from his bed, staring his roommate entered their shared room. "I couldn't make the lever to move properly!" Circa placed his new invention carefully on the corner despite his upset words. "You seem happy to me, though. Or rather a little dreamy looking? You know, with that faint flush on your face like that..!" Fern said with a chuckle.

Circa stared him a little distractedly. "Lady Deia fixed my hand..."

"Really..? That's a waste, she should fix your head instead. You're always having new ideas that aren't working. Must be something impaired in your brain...!". Fern always talked too much, Circa noted, the opposite of their other roommate, the notorious guardian-beast of Lady Deia. They moved to a bigger room with three single beds instead of two-bunked bed of their first year training.

"What's with yourself having that not-so-faint flush on your face..?!"

Fern chuckled merrily, he turned in his bed to look at the ceiling. "Rhenaia gave me flowers from her garden in the infirmary this morning. She delivered them by herself here...!"

"I don't see any flower..!" Circa arched his brow surveying the room.

"I put them under my pillow so I could dream about her anytime I sleep!". That earned a jawdrop from Circa. "Are you stupid..?!". When the healer-girl find out what he did to the flowers she carefully nurture and all that...-

"I'm in love! No, in heaven..!!" That made Circa rolled his eyes. A series of faint tinkling sound heard from Circa's other new device that weren't a failure. It looked like a plate with an indicator of a half-circle in the middle, a small crystal ball half-planted in the leftside, a palm-mark on the rightside. A clear lens on the lower side of the indicator now gleaming red. Circa gasped and hurried to the device.

"What is it?"

"Call of emergence..!". Fern widened his eyes, "You hack the Charms' communication..?! Aren't you be court-martialled or anything?!". Circa scrolled the crystal ball with his left hand. "It's from Yuy's location. I'll show you the message..." With a few faint strokes of fingers on the palm-mark, the red gleam shot out and floated above the plate. It formed the report in writings. Fern read the red light behind Circa's back, mumbling the words to himself. "...'in eastern village of Ella-myrda, the 61st block, round 11nth, district 4'...!" In a flash he was at the door. "That's where Rhenaia's parents and twin-brothers live..!!" he half shouted leaving the door half open.

"Wait..!!" Circa ran after him thinking about cort-martialled or strictly reprimanded –_that_ would be using too much luck from their goodluck-stock-, and such...

---------------

A girl about 19 of age landed on the damp dirt ground, her silvery light-green hair that length half of her back flowed gently in the teleportation lights, her healer cloak floated nicely around her. She was a teleportation-Spell user.

"Where..?!"

A soldier pointed to the direction the other Charms headed a moment before. She hurried without so much of a thankyou, but the soldier only showed concerns on his face. Just another case of casualties in the suburbs, he felt sorry for the girl. While she was dedicating herself for the others, she wasn't there for her family when they're butchered.

"Saffie..!!" she called out to a boy sitting on the damp ground, his hands were hugging himself tightly on his chest, his body balled against his knees. Splatters of blood had already dried on his body, his wide eyes were staring blindly to a spot in front of him. Several Charms were lashing out Waves from their open palms to break the barrier shielding the space he kept staring.

"Rhenaia..!" Fern called out softly by her side. She looked up from her crouching, hugging the ashened boy. He was about 10-years old, the younger one of the twins. "Yuy went in there.." he pointed the shielded space with a flick of his chin, the guardian-beast could penetrate the barrier without so much of an effort. To common eyes, the shielded space would look like normal woods, but the Charms or Spell-user could detect the anomaly.

"Sagé..?! My parents?" her eyes brimmed with tears. "...Along with the people of the whole village...-" Fern let his words faltered and just shook his head, they couldn't find any of them besides Saffie. Right after he finished shaking his head, as if on cue, the barrier broke, crashing down like a splattered glass. Shards of lights rained down to every direction. Rhenaia covered her brother with her body and cloak. The soldiers took covers behind trees. The Charms...they could only widened their eyes at the scene presented behind the barrier.

A high-tree(3) without so much of a leaf stood tall and resolute, its bough and branches coloured dark by dried blood. Dead bodies hung on the branches neatly. Started with the bigger ones at the inside, to the smaller ones at the smaller part of the branches on the outerside. All their eyes had been removed from their heads, leaving two bloody holes on each of their faces, their hearts were hung by their dangling feet. Dead animals scattered under the tree in circles as if worshiping it, the bigger ones like cattles and riding-beasts at the outerside, smaller ones like birds and fowls and even rodents on the innermost circles. At the top of the bough was a boy's body hung upside-down with his head missing.

Saffie's body slumped from his frozen state, his bended legs slowly slid to the ground, revealing the missing head in his embrace. Rhenaia who was still covering his body widened her eyes in horror finding the decapitated head just a hand-wide distance from her own face. She screamed...and everything felt like a slow motion...turned her head to the dark tree...saw the one body hung on the top..

She materialized in front of that body, screaming in hysteria when she hugged the mutilated boy, one hand tugging vainly at the red thread tying his feet to the treetop. It felt like so long and yet so short of occurance, she fast lose her hysteria and just sobbed hardly hugging her brother's body. Wailing with broken cries...

They spotted Yuy standing upside-down on the underside of a branch's end, looking at his down-side. An infant's body in his hands, he was holding it as if not letting that smallest body to dangle by the thread around its neck.

"...Yuy..!" Circa called him breathily, still too much in a strength-draining shock. Yuy jerked in surprise from his trance, he was only snapping his eyes to him but being his roommate for two years he could recognize his small gestures easily. ". . . . . it's just an infant..." the teen-beast whispered distractedly, staring back the smallest body in his hands.

Fern moved slowly to the lone survivor still on the ground, a light touch on his hair jolted him to hug his twin's head again. His movements was jerky and erratic. His wide eyes still blind to his surrounding. "Rhenaia..." Fern called softly. "Saffie needs you down here..!"

The girl took quite a moment to respond to that logic, but even tranced with grief and shock, she teleported herself down again. Slumped bonelessly when her feet touched the ground. Fern caught her upper body halfway in its fall, she'd stopped sobbing and wailing, but her tears fell continuously. Their parents must be among the dead villagers up there, he thought.

Circa glanced at the Charms nearest from him, then called out again. "Yuy...!" this time his voice didn't betray him. In the next second Yuy was standing at the front of the shocked spectators, looking down at his hands. Crusts of dried blood dirtied his black gloves. "...hatred.." he whispered.

"Hatred for their unshed tears... that's why their eyes were all removed..."-except Sagé's eyes still attached to his head."...punishment for their state of being alive..."-that's why their hearts were subtracted and hung by their feet, something to say that even dead-men didn't walk on their hearts. He looked at the field-leader Charms, silently asking for permission. The Charms looked back at him, then to his partner near him. The other Charms only shrugged one of his shoulder. The field-leader frowned in thinking for a few seconds, then nodded to Yuy.

The teen-beast turned his whole body to the tree slowly, letting his black-armor slithered off of his half-face to his neck like a mock turtle neck shirt. Took a guarded breath. Then started to sing a very slow chant...

Circa thought he heard a word similar to 'euthanasia' in the enchanting foreign language, but that might be just his mind thought so. They could feel the negative feelings lingered in the scene started to accumulate and wafted to the boy. They're mostly of hatred, the Charms recognized. The removal of the eyes was the retribution for empty longing. Of whose longing they had to investigate.

The humans couldn't see it with their eyes, but Yuy could see perfectly, the hatred and longing and hunger of vengeance left in the space. Wafting stormy coils of dark and bleeding colours, crawled in the air towards him, like _Shadows of Unforgiven_ clawing their way from everywhere to devour him. He tried to ignore the freezing feeling started to seize him from his feet up. A ringing sound so loud it deafened his ears. But he had to clear the space, or else the lingered feelings will poison the Land...

Two slender white arms suddenly bursted out from the accumulated waft of clouds floating in front of his chest, clutching his head in a deadlock. Yuy jerked a little and froze, ended his Voice with hopefully not an awkward cut that would raise anyone's suspicion. His eyes were two bipolar vertical-lines in a widened whiteness, recognizing to whom those arms belonged to. A red head followed those arms, broke out of the clouds with a miserable deep and long wheeze, like a drowning person broke off the water surface. It gasped hardly for several times, with the visible upper body from under its chest arched backwards, making the head dangling behind inhumanely.

Suddenly that form snapped forward almost hitting his face with its. ((...Miss me...?!)) the 'voice' reverberated his brain. ((I sure do miss you, Deity...!!)) it whined harshfully.

((...It's not fair that I'm the only one longing in vain !!)) That's the answer the Charms wanted..! The entity floated the rest of his body out from the clouds that soon dispersing when he's completely visible.

_...the spirit-Kylle...!_ His mind alerted his consciousness almost trancedly. The black-armor abruptly covered his lower half-face just before the entity meshed his own lips to his closed mouth. Roughly. Desperate hunger he could sense like blades...as if devouring him right then and there. Feeling the entity's limbs clutched his body tightly. A hand circling his head, pushing it forward to his starving mouth. The other gripping his throat, as if fighting with his own desire of breaking his neck. His legs circled his lower body, one at his hips, another seizing one of his legs like a snake. His crotch disturbingly at the same level with the entity's as he'd grown almost twice the height he'd last seen that airy figure.

He squeezed his hands tightly on either sides of his thighs. His mind reiterated, ..._don't show it...don't show it..._half panickly.

"Yuy...?" Circa noticed his sudden awkwardness. The teen just nodded stiffly once, knowing the Charms would start to do their jobs of evacuating the bodies at his sign. The other soldiers spread cloths for the bodies on the grounds, and not for long, Circa decided to join them too.

Another healer-Charms walked carefully to the boy on the ground. He yelped when a surge of power burned his hand by a slightest touch, and fell backward on his butt. Yuy jerked once feeling the same surge, only it was from the source sticking himself to his body like a leech, despite his effort for hiding the entity's presence.

"..whaa-...-i don'...y'laii...kh...it..." the boy started to speak brokenly. His words were too broken almost incomprehensible. "...did...fo'... yhuu..." he tried between choked gasps. "..thossse...whohur'th you..."

His wide eyes got even wider, a crazed smile on his face. His dry blooded hand sought Yuy's black shawl's end, gripped it tightly almost using his weight. The other one still hugging his twin's head precariously. Hard gasps. "...smaa'illle fo'mhee...!"

((Smile for meeeee...!)) the entity reverberated in the teen-beast's brain lasciviously.

The possessed boy jerked and whined as if in pain. His other hand clutched his head, letting his twin's head rolled on the ground, that woke his elder sister to react. "...smillle... fo'..." he whined out feeling the pain.

A loud slap stopped his pained gasps, his blood-splattered face stunned in empty shock. The hand gripping the black shawl fell limply. Followed by the body lifelessly, to his twin's head on his sister's laps.

Rhenaia embraced him protectively. "...what...evil.." she hissed, "...have you brought to this land...?!"

That village was the village where he'd been hunted down to the Forest, caught by the villagers and mercenaries and got abused, almost starved to death, and they did let him bleed to his demise. This was the village where his blood had wetted its grounds. The village marked by his marked life...

---------------

Deia widened _her_ eyes in horror, staring at the dark tree still with a few bodies to be evacuated. _She_ fast searched the people in the scene, and spotted Circa covering a body with a cloth almost hidden by the low trees.

"Where's Yuy..?!" _she_ asked him not caring at his jump of surprise.

"He..." Circa took a deep breath for his surprised lungs. "He was... taken by 'Thrice' to the Temple..!"

"Which Temple ?!"

"Uhh...the Second...?", he said half-consciously asking himself.

"Why?"

"For questioning...or something-.."

"Questioning him for what..?!" Deia got impatient and lashed out a little.

Circa blinked, feeling his world still turning him upside-down over and over. "Milady...!" he pleaded with a deep sigh. Deia stared him, then snorted. "Sorry. Thanx, Circa..!" then fled.

"...'welcome, Milady..." Circa said stunnedly, watched _her_ dissapeared from his sight the second time that day. Half realizing that the Lady had called him by name. A logical part of his mind that still working pointed to him that _she_ even knew low-ranked soldiers' families and relatives.

---------------

The Six-Stalwarths were natural 'towers', if you could make a good use for them. Three made as temples, the other three made as forts, even though he'd never been informed of what kind of temples and what kind of forts they were. If you put a line connecting the temples, and a line for the forts in different colours, you'll get a sign of a hexagonal-star made from two triangles. Then, if you could see it from a higher view, you'd realize that it was more like a general magical-seal sign; sealing the whole land, hidden by the canopy of the Stratus.

That's what the sky's eyes told him from the beginning. What kind of thing would such a grand-sized seal adequate for...? That was what had intrigued him to enter this land, the smell of longing that was older than himself..

'Thrice' teleported them to the Second Temple's grounds. He'd left Grandmongrel and other countries around it to 'Seventh', besides, he's not very good at maintaining political relationship, or avoiding it. Whether it was a good or a bad relationship. Being an indifferent individual himself, although some people would realize it now that he could be open only in the presence of 'Seventh', and he'd be more closed in the presence of 'Octonary'.

In the absence of both of them somehow made him like...colourless. Like a silent passing wind.

"This place is forbidden for commoners..."

Yuy watched the teenage-Charms opened his left palm to the Stalwarth's direction quite a few meters from its bough, a whitelight appeared and formed an oval shape of mirror a little taller than himself. The surface was liquiscent and flowed in shimmering whites.

'Thrice' turned and walked to him. "...You don't get out. Unless you have the permission...!" he said passingly near Yuy's face. A light breeze passed them and swayed his bangs from covering his face. Yuy watched him sidelong when the teenage-Charms passed him. His burning-gold eye stared him like a predator's, but he found it oddly soothing. The Charms found himself a nice spot to sit on the parts of the Stalwarth that were protruding from the grounds. Somehow they were almost looked like human made carved-decorations of transparent structures, outlanders would find it hard to belief that they were grow naturally. Specks of multicoloured lights randomly shone in them, as if giving bits of colours to him.

He said nothing more, closing his eyes, and shut off his surrounding.

Yuy stared him for a little while, his mind wanted to say anything, perhaps questions, or defensive statements, or excuses...but he could formulate nothing, not even a word. Not really understanding what the Charms in front of him took him for. Enemy? Traitor? He could still feel the slap he gave him a couple of years ago after he massacred the OWLs outside. Or perhaps, he was only a nuissance..? Like a rock thrown into a stillwatter and disturbed its calm surface.

The kisses the spirit-Kylle gave him trailed to his left ear, licking and purring. A deep chuckle. The entity seemed like he was in his own world, satisfying his two years hunger of not beable to devour him in any way and form. The teen-beast sighed mentally, not that he needed someone to cling to in this kind of situation. Might as well faced the perils this land stored for him, and his Human. Better him than his Human..!

He extended his right hand to the oval-light, feeling it solidify on the touch of his palm, a flash of light and the surface turned glassy. Reflecting the spirit-Kylle who was attaching to his body for a mere glimpse, felt a sharp tug on his hand, and suddenly he was falling forward.

He collapsed on a solid surface on his knees, feeling out of breath and drained from energy. Drained of life and awareness. The place he was at was of different space, thicker in consciousness and more intangible in substance. He felt the blackness from the craftplate took over his vital organs, forcing him to compromise. A part of him grateful that the thing existed in his body, somehow he knew he wouldn't beable to survive in that place by himself.

The absence of an entity attaching himself to his body alerted his mind. He straightened his head slowly and surveyed the place. It was only a hollowed space used as a room, a round stone-floor with marks of spell-circles, some signs like the Order's succession he saw when his Human showed him the Land's map to him. He stared at them for sometime.

..._Order of...Milleni__um_... his mind read, remembering something his Human said about 'Order of the Year' back at the time. Some intricate designs of curves and styles made a sign of a hexagonal star on the outeredge, its pointed ends passed the outer circles. Above each of them floated a hexagonal column about a couple of meters from the floor. The wall was made of roots intermingling themselves into solid structure. Everything was shimmering dim light that illuminated the room. He looked up, finding the hollow ended in nothingness far up.

Stood up, turned in a full circle to inspect the room. Noone besides himself was around. He was at the outside of the circles, so whatever those circle used for likely not to be used for sealing him. Unless... Right, there's no exit in the room. So the exit could be in the middle of the circles, or up there. Though he doubted the later, he wasn't sure it would be the previous too.

Redfire ablazed on the middle of the circles right after he finished his thinking. Floated in about the same height as the columns above the floor. It was bigger than a human's form.

The circles and signs on the floor burned a molten lava colour from the innerside, when it reached the hexagonal star's ends, the columns turned into burning pillars of redfire. Redlight shot up from the fire pillars marking the air with some hexagonal-star based form, piercing the blazing redfire in the middle. A long high pitched sound reverberated the room, as the fire turned into humanoid form, ended as a fierce scream of pain and anger from a Wild-faced spirit-Kylle baring his teeth to him, sharp long fangs carved with red marks on them. The two redlines at either sides of his face burned like the molten lava, bled his face. His hands tied flat to his body at his backside by the redlights. He was screeching ferociously in maddened fury.

Yuy took a step back. His ears could perceive the faint almost inaudible voice in the screeches, a reiteration of 'die' in an alien language, must be something of an ancient language. He furrowed.

"I'll free you if you-..."

A presence materialized from the air behind him. He turned fast and froze. Finding an angelic smile he hadn't seen for about two years. The ends of a long white shawl that brushed the floor lightly, he'd kept that same shawl two years ago folded neatly under his pillow, only to find it missing the next morning. He knew noone had took it, for noone was able to touch it into form. The Air had taken it back, that's what he thought.

"You shouldn't do that...!" the calm voice said. Kylle walked slowly towards the circles. His light movements made him looked as if he was drifting. Passing the teen-beast as if he wasn't there. "We are to protect the Land, not kill its inhabitants...!"

That made the screeches even more fiercer, his long pointed ears pricked to the back. Yuy blinked. He heard the reiteration of 'die' turned into...he searched his catalogue of feelings, it's not a word he could translate into another word. It was... akin to... 'mercy'. No...'love'..? No, this hollow feeling told him something like... 'negative-love'? His furrow got deeper.

"Please excuse him..." Kylle said silently. "He wanted to hurt anybody just like this land had hurt him..!"

Yuy stared the human-Kylle a little stunnedly.

"You should go now...It should be already dawn outside..!" Kylle added breathily. That earned another blinked from the teen-beast, he searched his inner-clock. No reading of Time. This place must be running in a different time, he might as well get out of it when he'd given the permission to.

A longer and poisonous screech heard. He flicked to the ensnared entity up there. A feeling of betrayal directed at him seared his consciousness, he jerked a little at the mental attack. Looked closely at the human-Kylle staring his spirit-twin-self with a smile still on his face, ignoring his figure at his side.

..._not mine to judge_... his mind whispered at his consciousness. He lowered his eyes dejectedly, and took a step back.

"Master Yuy..." Kylle whispered breathlessly, "...I'll be around.."

That was sounded like a warning. Then another tug sucked his body backward before he had the chance to do or say anything, he felt the short fall and braced himself before he fell on his butt. A short moment of darkness, and a rather stunned reflection of himself blinking at him on the glassy surface. A flash of light, liquiscent flows. A presence of a teenage-Charms behind him. He turned back as the oval-light dispersed into the Air. Finding 'Thrice' still sitting at the spot he was before. His inner-clock told him that indeed it had already turned to dawn, that meant the Charms had waited for him for a night and half-day.

The said charms unfurled himself from his pose, refusing to look at his eyes, and just asked his hand with his own so that he could teleport both of them again through the Forest. His mind supplied him with the fact that the other Charms would not use teleportation to get out of that Forest. They materialized exactly outside the said Forest, and without a say 'Thrice' flashed in a blur of whitelight leaving him.

A cold wind welcoming him on the wide prairie. Something felt hollowed in his consciousness. He stared at nothing for some moment, then decided to go back to the Castile. His Human most likely was waiting for him. A smile crept to his face, knowing his Human had grown from Human's exploding habits in time of anxiety. Some part of him who hated himself and wanting to hurt him in any kind of form missed that rituals, his Human was someone who could inflict damage as easy as giving him life.

---------------

Harsh gasps, agonized moans. A human-face exactly the copy of his own floated to his front, only a breath away from his pained face. He gave a poor mewl, then whimpered long and sorrowfully, as if begging for mercy. The face in front of his still smiling.

"...you don't do that..." Kylle whispered silently, "...Kai...".

At the sound of the name the entity gave a sharp sob, continued with weak whimpers, ebbed to soundless gasps. A slender arm sneaked out from under the shawl, brushed the contorted face with its airy fingers. The white fingers dispersed into wafts of cloudy air before they could feel the spirit's skin.

"Mother had punished you for letting the mercenaries into the Barrier two years ago...that you had directed them to abduct Lady Deia and the Beast...But that's not allowed..!" Kylle brushed his forehead up and down to the entity's ever so slowly, without being able to thouch it. He stopped and closed his eyes. "Because of what you had allowed to get in, the poisons had managed to enter...!"

Kylle stared at nothing with his drooped eyes, feeling that he couldn't feel his entity's form no matter what. "...I know you didn't mean it..". A long whine turned into sobs answered his breathless words. "Mother didn't think so, though. I'm sorry...!"

((...pleeeeasse...)) he whined sorrowfully.

Kylle let out a deep sigh, pulled back his head shaking in negation. "...you shouldn't worsen your punishment by butchering Mother's children only because She'd separated us..!"

((...but you die...! You diiie..!!)) he cried brokenly. A sad furrow appeared between Kylle brows, despite his everpresent smile. He took a moment, "...I can take that..-"

(( _I_ CAN'T...!! )) the entity snapped, the bleeding colour from his eyes spattered to the empty air. His eyes wide with fury and madness. Kylle extended his arms to enfold the entity's head without touching, knowing it was vain to try. '...Kai..', he mouthed desperately in defeat.

Kai's anger melted, and lowered his head to his human-copy's shoulder as far as the ensnaring lights allowed him to. Sobbing.

((...I'll avenge you...!! I will ! ..I'll avenge you...)) he reiterated in his cry. A bleeding colour dripped from Kylle's redmarks to his shawl, colouring it a blood shade before the colour dissipated by the whiteness of the cloth. Just like the Land's whiteness dissipated their self's-colour. His arms still guarding his spirit-self's head in loose untouchable embrace.

His smile never leaving his face despite his bleeding tears...

---------------

'_...You must have cried a lot, too...your tears bled your face..'_

---------------

.._..'You are one mean and possessive land,...Mother'_... Yuy recalled his Human's thought in his mind. Feeling such a longing and vengeance that so very literally could poison a land, he never understood why such a system were still maintained to regulate a land in physical and mind.

More than hell_...that could be different for everyone..._ from his outlander's eyes the Land's system was about the exact quality of those words for some of its inhabitants. They just never realized it..! Because they never had the chance to live outside this corrupting land...

He had seen many living-systems of so many different organisms, to him this land was more like a giant symbiosis of plants and other living beings. The fungi they called Stalwarths were the hosts, they gave the other beings their necessities, in atmosphere form, in energy form, even bodily forms. In turn they're the ones recycled into the fungi's food...like cattles bred in a closed farm. That's it...they're just the Land's food supply and energy storage..! Like the cells in one's body living and serving their purposes to their fullest literal meaning. Now he was aware of the Air's oppression on his being again.

What was life and death in this Land...?

..._deaths didn't mean anything when you didn't have the souls to die with...when you didn't have the life to lose._._.when you weren't alive to begin with.._.. He felt like needing a share of his Human's life. Now...!

---------------

Deia sat with _her_ knees folded on _her_ front, _her_ hands were hugging _her_ feet loosely and draped over _her_ ankles, _her_ white dress and white skin were in contrast with the only black velvet cushion of the chair. Staring at the half opened glass door to the terrace outside, the multicoloured lights from the Stratus accompanied _her_ with their pre-dawn displays. The soft transparent curtain blown by the breeze sometimes caressed _her_ gently, as if coaxing _her_ to be more patient waiting for _her_ Beast.

Truthfully, _she_ was more than patient. _She_ felt almost nothing inside, only a steady burn of expectation _she_ protected with _her_ faith, like a frozen water waiting for that one stone to ripple its surface back to life, _she_ saw the universe as something inconsequential, something that had nothing to do with _her_ nor _her_ existence. It was the universe without _her_ Beast besides _her_. Only one mattered, and that One wasn't around. All _she_ had to do, all _she_ could do, was waiting. When everything had no meaning, _she_ just had to wait till someone who meant everything to come back and bring _her_ Life.

A blur of white flew a couple of times crossing _her_ window, it landed silently on the banister of _her_ terrace. A soft wind blew the curtain to reveal the creature staring at _her_ with its jet black eyes, the dark lines resembling tear tracks running down its sides of face, the slender long neck with a line of necklace-like black, a symbol of grief on its forehead. It crooned softly to _her_. A sad song of lamentation of the deads.

_She_ stared the Relic-prayer apathetically. The bird kept singing silently, as if afraid other people might heard it. A couple more birds landed at each side of the first one, they joined the singing with the gentlest voice, staring _her_ inanimated figure with their wisened eyes.

_She_ stared...

A distinctive presence-signature rippled the Castile barrier through the Air, and _she_ knew _her_ Beast had arrived, but _she_ was still frozen in _her_ pose.

The Relic-prayers flew to the tower roofs around _her_ chamber, joining their pack back watching the one terrace and its inhabitant. A blur of black leaping from roof to roof landed soundlessly on that terrace, the black shawl flowed behind his figure like a shadow's tail. He entered the half opened glass door slowly and kneeled in front of _her_. They stared each other for a long time. The wind sometimes teased them to move with the soft curtain. The birds kept watching...

"You okay...?" Deia broke the silence with a silent whisper.

"...I'm fine..!" Yuy answered with an almost inaudible whisper.

"You're hurt..." That's not a question, "...inside..." _she_ lifted _her_ right hand to brush the Beast's cheek ghostly with the end of _her_ forefinger, tracking a line down his left eye as if folowing a tear path.

"I have to report to Master Howard..."

Deia nodded once. "I'll go see my father.."

He rested his forehead on his Human's feet, _her_ left hand opened readily to cup his face on _her_ feet, the black armor recognized _her_ touch and left his face. _Her_ right hand stroked the brown head lazily.

"...I'll be waiting for you here.." he whispered breathlessly.

"...you do that..!" Deia said, but neither of them seemed willing enough to move and detach themselves from their positions.

Now it felt like as if the wind teased them to part.

---------------

"...-this is the first case in this century...!" Howard said tiredly upset.

..._so this had happened before_... Yuy watched the old-Charms, who seemed to get a lot more older these past couple years, closely.

"The last one occured when I was still an inexperient pre-Charms, so I didn't get the details much..!" he snorted.

..._that means he's a lot older than he looks_... he stored that analysis in his head.

The old man swore under his breath, the teen-beast could hear it clearly. A deep sigh, "...puzzles are frustrating when they're not meant to be solved...!"

..._actually since you already knew the answer...you just not meant to reveal it._... his prussian eyes didn't betray his thought.

"What do you think of it...?" Howard asked, his black spectacles lowered half his nose.

..._here comes the rhetorical ritual._...

"...the youngest human was a newborn...!" he whispered flatly. He recognized the infant's smell, he knew the similar smell before, it was the (4)_poor-young_-Heron's child. Must be his younger child since he was expecting his first one when he bit the human's hand off four years ago.

"So who ever did it didn't do it to avenge you...?" the old-man seemed to know his train of thoughts.

"...why wait for four years..?" –_if it's for me_.

"I don't know...not my reason..!" Howard shrugged his shoulder a little rigidly. "You have any idea ?"

Yuy stood still for several seconds. How these humans could deceive themselves of the truth sometimes amazed him in a disturbing way. He thought to himself that it was part of their ritual to keep the surface calm, and he didn't want to be the one who ripple the still layer since he didn't want to jeopardize his Human. So he decided to just shake his head, and let the old man to interpret as what ever he wanted of it.

Howard seemed to know his thought yet again, he averted his eyes from those deep prussian orbs with another deeper sigh. Waited several heartbeats, "...I lost my whole family in the last case...!" he said as if reminding himself. "I know what it's like to...skip the pains."

..._you mean 'truth'_...

" And overlook the failure..."

..._'failure' means death..!_

'_That would be what a hell like to you...!_' Odin's words two years ago replayed in his ears. He stared the old human with his beast eyes. "...that would be different for everyone..." the answer he gave Odin for those words unconsciously whispered out. As the old man's eyes snapped at his, he realized he'd spoken it out.

He blinked. His face didn't betray his heart.

Howard looked closely the teen-beast, he'd grown almost a head taller than Deia in the last two years. A small voice in his old heart missed the boyish features now almost gone from the teen in front of him, he looked sterner and stronger since he joined the forces. Howard just worried that may be the teen pushing himself too hard, and it's not for his own sake, to add to the fact.

"...did you report this to Lady Lyea?" Howard asked with a little lighter tone.

"No, Sir. You said Lady already had too many problems to mind, and to report anything important to you." Yuy whispered flatly. Howard nodded once, and reclined to his chair's back.

"You know how to act among politians...?" he asked conversationally. "_Human_ politicians...!" he added.

Yuy blinked at the sudden change. "Just act polite and don't join their talks." He said seriously. That brought a long bursting laughter from Howard. He stared the old man with a little crease between his brows.

"...you think Lady Dee could act like a politician among those politicians..?" he asked half outbreathed once his laughter ceased.

"Depends on how the politians act..!" another serious answer. Another deeper laughter from the old man. "You think _she_'ll singe their heads if _she_ ever lash out..?!"-perhaps he should 'when'. He sounded like actually he's expecting that to happen.

A deeper crease. "I hope not. Human won't be satisfied with only scorching their hair when that happens...! Might as well blow the whole hall, instead."

Seeing the old-Charms didn't seem to cease his another episode of laughter, he asked eventually. "Is that funny...?"

Howard tried with a few breaths, "...That..." –chuckle-, "...would be your responsibility, Yuy, milad...!". At his incomprehending frown Howard add. "You'll be escorting _her_ to Viricidia to attend the invitation for a ball..!"

Watching so many humans bouncing together on the dance hall with the music was not very interesting, to his opinion.

"...You say that to their faces and we'll have some other wars to attend to...!!" Howard said seriously albeit still with laughter. Yuy had this expression saying 'then why (us)' on his face. "Lady Lyea can't. And you know that even though it's an invitation for a ball, it would be a party for gaining allies to stand against the OWL's attacks..!" Howard added.

The expression on the teen-beast's face turned to 'THEN WHY US?!', knowing they both had the patience as long as a nail's end –not his long pointed nails- concerning politicians and such nonsense. Might as well scratch their faces with those nail ends literally…! Perhaps along with hissing and teeth baring….

"You realize that some humans don't consider Archantra people as humans...?" Howard asked flatly with a smirk. Outside, they're called the Archant, just for information. They're sometimes classified in tangible-non-human races such as the sprites or fairies, or Rynks -one of the magical-creature races that looked like humanoid-chimeras-; that even in some cases people would add them to the Wilds classification.

He'd thought about it.

"It won't matter who we send, they most likely would not see us as their associate..! What you have to do is at least make them want to not make us their enemy..-"

'_**THEN WHY **__**US**___' plastered on Yuy's incredulous face, it made Howard bursted with laughter again. He lifted his right hand open to calm the teen-beast before his anxiety baited Deia's protection-instinct and make another explosion in the poor old Castile.

"Now, now..." Howard tried, "...Lady Dee could be whatever _she_ wanted if _she_ ever determine it, you just have to make _her_ motivated..!"

Yuy blinked, not convinced the slightest.

"Look...!" Howard sighed, he didn't really like the idea of releasing _her_ outside, either. "I'm-...WE..! Trusting _her_ to your hands, I believe you have more experience than any of us inlanders outside. As for the reason we send _her_ and not anybody else...We're kind of short on good hands right now, as you can see yourself..!"

Yuy blinked again.

"Lady Lyea CAN'T..!! She's the Lady of the Land now that the Lord is in his current condition, and...YES..! We're sending _her_ to sweettalk some vultures outside but I believe you're more of a predator than they are and you can be a conqueror if you want to !"

"No insult intended...!" Howard added as an afterthought.

"None taken..." Yuy said rather apathetically but his expression still said that he's not convinced. Then Howard stared him widening his eyes inquiringly. Yuy stared the old man with a deep frown, when he eventually answered his submission Howard thought he saw a little pout on his lips. "...Human can live up to your expectations, and more...but I guess...Human's..._self_..can not...!!"

That lifted Howard's brows to his supposed hairline. "Not that Human's _self_ is not reliable or anything...it's just that..." Yuy looked uncomfortably bothered for a moment, "...I don't want to expose Human's _self_ to..." he searched his mind, "...false...wind..!"

Howard blinked as he digested the teen-beast's words. So he didn't want to let the _real-one_ behind Deia's mask to a 'temporary' freedom and cage _her_ in this land back. For all he knew, the teen-beast probably saying that he would not bring Deia back and just take _her_ someplace else only the sky knows where for good. He guessed if he ever in the teen's position he couldn't resist the temptation himself.

"You could..." Howard pondered it a bit stunnedly, "...do...what you might see best..!". A little part of his heart wanted Yuy to do just that, instead.

"But serve this Land its rights first...!" he ended firmly.

They stared each other for some time.

"How many people you'd want to take along as escorts during the journey...?" Howard asked seriously, knowing the trip to Viricidia would take at least two weeks on land. Yuy shook his head.

"The less the safer, I wouldn't be effectively guarding too many people." That was, might as well meant 'on the way _back_'..!

At that exact time two tails of flowing long scarf at the room's corner near the open window betrayed the Charms who wore it. "Shouldn't you asked permission first...?" Howard turned his head to 'Thrice'.

"Emergency report from outside, Chieftain...!" 'Thrice' answered indifferently staring at nothing on the floor. Howard snorted softly, then nodded to dissmiss Yuy. "You'd be going on the third day from now..!". Yuy stared him with an unreadable stare, then nodded to excuse himself, and got out of Howard's study. Knowing 'Thrice''s eyes were on him through his third-eye's perspective.

"What is it ?" Howard asked with flat face. 'Thrice' didn't move, but he opened his Harmony-link to the old-Charms and reflected his report. Howard closed his eyes with a guarded sigh, "..we lose Eyränd's aids...!" he said to himself almost soundlessly. 'Thrice''s face didn't change.

"You know what to do..! And for others as well !".

'Thrice' bowed his head a little to that command, and teleported himself to his tasks. The smallest part of his consciousness whispered to his mind that he was suppose to be a little relief now that 'Octonary' might be gone, but a reflection of that smallest part wondered of his wellbeing, as if losing something to be bothered with. May be he just didn't want to feel more empty... Knowing that he wouldn't beable to leave this incarceration even if everyone else depart.

---------------

---------------

(1) Great-Shark's Maxilla; a natural gigantic ice barrier formed like the upper jaw of a shark stabbing the icy-land on the southern earth. In a wider view, it's more looked like a barricade of cages with a bridge-like top, bent in a great arch. The ice-stormy winds blew even fiercer through the gaps between each 'tooth' that make it impossible to pass through. If someone would pass it, they would have to use the upper bridge on the top-side which of course had even more freezing temperature.

(2) Land's day; () saturday. saru use the term from Saturn's day, the god of agriculture, and that equals 'land'. in this fic saru use the term as like this:

sunday Sun's day

monday Moon's day

tuesday Strive's day (now, it should be Mars day, the god of war, but saying it war's day sounded weird)

wednesday Messenger's day (from Mercury/Hermes)

thursday Thunder's day (from Jupiter)

friday Love's day (from Frigga)

had considered of using sanskrit/javanese calendar once (just for the sake of considering) and laughed when it stuck on "Jum'at-kliwon"...! Bwaaahahahaa... or may be "1 suro"... might as well write someone playing "jelangkung" in the fic..!!-if u're not javanese u won't get what made saru laughed- Thinking of it, Oni-tan might have a "primbon" to go along...heeheeheeee (scratch!!)

(3) there're two kinds of trees in Archantra; the usual sized trees, and giant sized trees. The giant sized usually called high-tree or tall-tree

(4) from the first chapter...it was how the villagers had reffered him with, so it stuck to his mind as that


	17. false wind

Deia knocked on the door, at the sound of Ruéa's answer to plea

**whiteshade of blackness** revised-may'08

_Credit : Modified Tam for beta-ing __(saru had lots of jobs lately -they just added more and more-, sorry for LATE upload..reread it again n changed 2-3 words; some sentences saru' mind couldn't process…may be saru' English is rotten)_

**17 **** false wind**

_shine bright, Morninglight_

_now in the air the spring is coming_

_sweet blowing wind singing down the hills and valleys_

_keep your eyes on me, now we're on the edge of hell_

_Dear my love, sweet Morninglight_

_wait for me, you've gone much farther too far_

(_Fake Wing_, Kajiura Yuki)

Deia knocked on the door, at the sound of Ruéa's answer to please _her_ in _she_ let _her_self into the chamber quietly.

"...how is he..?" Deia asked silently to the maid sitting on the chair at the other side of the big canopy bed.

"He's sleeping soundly..!" the motherly maid smiled to _her_, put the knitting in her hands on the shelf next to her, and poured some warm beverage for the _girl_.

"He's smiling...!" Deia said tinged with sad wonderment. "You think he's having a wonderful dream...?"

"He might be dreaming of you and Lady Lyea..!" the maid smiled. Deia understood she was just trying to cheer _her_ up. "...Mother..?" _she_ played along.

"Yes, perhaps together with the late Lady along...!" Ruéa chuckled warmly. Deia's smile froze a little on _her_ face, still staring at the unconscious man on his bed that to the world seemed like he was only sleeping.

'..._the Deia in his dream wouldn't be me, then...!_', but his real baby girl, the one that was dead instead of _her_.

"...I miss your childish antics, Father. You made How-ward get a lot more older this past year, since he couldn't play along with your frolics...!" Deia chuckled a little, playing with The Lord's limp hand in _her_ smaller ones.

It happened a year and few months back, the healthy and silly Lord out of nowhere just lost his consciousness. He was sleeping one night and didn't wake up again the next morning. Rumors said it was a Spell's doing, others said it was the OWL's scheme, someother said that the Land took him home... What's home..?! Shouldn't this plane be their _home_..?!

If it's a Spell, shouldn't the Lord be able to fend himself with his Veiled...? Or was it a stronger Spell than his Veiled, but that means there's an attacker-Spell user that was powerful enough to get to him? His Veiled was the strongest Veiled-Spell in the Land...unless he had to fend from several attackers...-

But who could penetrate the Castile's barrier...?

...that was, unless the Air let them in... Did it..? Did the Air betray them...?

Not ! ..right ? If the Air turned from their side then they wouldn't survive ! The Land wouldn't survive...!!

Odin had been spending a lot more time in the battle posts outside, since then. He was seldomly back in the Castile, and when they met he never looked them in the eyes anymore. He must have felt devastated to not to able to do anything the second time their father was in this kind of condition in his life. He had sacrificed his Spirit-friend's life to save him when they were teenagers, now that he had nomore to sacrifice, he could do nothing more... Part of his stubborn self must had blamed it to himself, knowing that he'd given the other half of the water-tree's heart to Deia, while, from the beginning he was saving it for the Lord, in case the condition was to reoccur. Deia had meant to offer him the halve water-tree's heart in _her_ possession, but the look in Odin's eyes like he wanted to kill _her_ instead had stopped _her_ speech halfway. Lyea could have said it bluntly when she delivered the casket, 'don't make fun of Odin's feelings about this gift..._or he will kill you!_', but she didn't.

Deia sighed, slow and deeply, once. Rested _her_ head on the man's chest, listening to the slow rythm of his silently beating heart. "...I hope you're with us, Father. I've got so many things to talk about..., I bet Lyea will rain you with matters and matters and matters when you wake up..!" _she_ snickered softly. "Then you'll make another episode in the Castile by running away from those _matters_ and How-ward and Old-din and The Council will have to chase you down in your hide-and-seek party. I bet a lot of people would play along, whether they think of it as a game or not...and don't worry, I'll let you hide in my hiding place...!" _she_ grinned for a second, but it disappeared soon after.

"Just wake up and grace us with your grin..!! We've been a little lost since you fell asleep...!" _she_ pleaded silently. The unspoken suspicion wafted in the Air, thick like a cloud, that it was a kind of punishment from the Land, because he opened up the secluded Land, to some extent, by making The Charms as aids for other lands. It had never been done by the former Lords, they and everyone knew the unwritten law naturally, like breathing the Air itself, so noone had dared to round it, more over to break it.

Ruéa didn't intrude _her_, she only opened the window to let the morning breeze in, tied the heavy drapes aside letting the transparent lace curtains to flow gently, and sat back to her knitting. The smell of Fragmenterussä, Lilia-of-nightshade-circles and Murky-augury were the most significant smells in the air from the garden outside, now that it was early spring, the sounds of Cotton-winds were heard like wind-chime's music.

Deia stilled for a long moment, letting the lonely feeling get to _her_ for some time. When _she_ felt _she_ could be _her_ usual self again, _she_ straightened up in _her_ seat. Took the cup of beverage Ruéa put on the small table at _her_ side, the sweet liquid had already cooled down, but it tasted as great as ever. Ruéa knew _her_ favorite brew, and Deia could distinctively taste the Frŭssanschiä in the drink.

"... Elderberries-of-the-sixth-crowned-cubes..!" _she_ said in a nice wonderment. "At this kind of weather...?!". The rare plants only fruited once in several years in a warm weather, but the climate had turned fairly cold the last years.

Ruéa smiled warmly. "I took them from Howard's secret garden...!" she whispered conspiratorially.

"What...?" Deia asked wide-eyed. Ruéa chuckled, "No, Milady, they're from my own apothecary-garden !". Deia blinked. "Your favorite, isn't it ? Want to take some for Yuy..?"

Deia bounched _her_ head with a nice flush on _her_ face, "Yes, please..!". _Her_ shy smile brought a warm laughter from the maid. "I already picked the black ones for you.." Ruéa said revealing a small wicker basket from the lower compartment of the cabinet next to the bed. She walked to Deia's side and handed the basket to _her_. "Thankyou...!" Deia said while accepting it with both hands like a treasure.

Ruéa snorted. "Stop that act..! You're NOT shy to begin with !"

Deia's laugh rang out. "You know me, Ruéa. Thanx..!" _she_ said kissing the maid on her cheek, then fled after giving a peck on _her_ father's forehead.

--

Lyea caught _her_ on _her_ way back to _her_ chamber where _she_ knew _her_ Beast must had been waiting for _her_. To _her_ grating-nerves, Lyea had to make a little episode of hell for _her_ by briefing _her_ about the _human_ politicians and their countries and all that came along with nationalities and wars. They finished their 'sweettalk'-lesson only after around noon, thanks to Deia's severe pout or else Lyea wouldn't have stopped until late afternoon.

The downpayment _she_ had to pay for a vacation with _her_ Beast outside, or the curse for ever thinking about it that way. Either way, premonitorily _she_ knew it would be the only chance for them to ever get out of the Land. Whether it was a good premonition or a bad one. Must be something to do with the Relic-prayer's song outside _her_ window this daybreak. Or just _her_ paranoia getting to _her_...

Yuy was sitting on the floor of _her_ chamber, resting his back to the glass door with the soft curtain caressing him every now and then.

"Why are you sitting on the floor...?!" Deia asked while shutting the door. The Beast shrugged a little, his expression didn't change. "You didn't touch the meal !" _she_ added seeing the food tray that still looked untouched. "Were you waiting for me...-?"

"I'm not hungry..." the Beast whispered silently.

"Because of what happened yesterday ? What was 'Thrice' debriefing you about...?!" _she_ joined the Beast at his side.

"Nothing..."

"Can't be nothing...-!"

"He didn't ask anything...!"

"Then what were you two doing the whole night...?" Deia frowned, rather curiously instead of upset. He flicked his head for safe answer. "...What was the Temple like ?"

At that question Yuy turned his head to his Human. "No commoners are ever let inside..! Commoners as in _common living beings inhabitting the Land _which loosely translated as everyone with a big 'E'..! That makes you not a commoner anymore !"

He blinked. Then, facing forward again, "Just... a chamber..."

"Just a chamber, right...! Tell me something more specific, come on..!" Deia said while _her_ hand, on autopilot, brought the elderberry to the Beast's mouth. He sniffed the transparent black fruit once and gave a tentative lick without looking at it. He sideglanced his Human's inquiring face while taking the fruit with his mouth. His tongue felt the peculiar shape of the berry, it was flat on three sides and quite ripely rounded on the rest part.

"Strange... and uncommon..." he whispered as if to himself after chewing a few times.

"That's elderberry, one of my favorite fruits..!" _she_ said flatly, knowing what he was talking about. He blinked, the sidetracking from the topic seemed not to work nowadays. Must be their joined-minds now grown from his mind-leak. "See ? That's one of the six-crowns berry. This one's the six-crowned-cube..!" Deia dangled the relatively larger fruit from the first one, it shaped quite oddly rather like a small column of hexahedral shape. So the fruit cluster must be a set of heptameral berries with one clamped in the middle of six other berries, that what made their shapes as they grew to ripe. "The black ones are very rare, common elderberries are translucent whites or clear coloured..! They taste different, too !" Deia added. The Beast took the cube-berry in his mouth, a little frowning at its more peculiar taste. "...poisonous..-"

"Everything's poisonous in this land...!" _she_ said it fast with a big smile. Seeing the interest shining in Human's excessive eyes, -maybe the sidetracking worked too well, after all-…now he didn't want to ruin his Human's mood.

He smirked at that. "What...?!" Deia asked with a disturbed frown. He flicked his head and stared forward again. Seeing that he was a little preoccupied, _she_ asked, "What're you thinking about..?"

"False wind.." he answered without hesitation. "False what...?" Deia put an elderberry into _her_ own mouth, while giving one to the Beast's mouth with _her_ other hand. "...nothing.."

"Can't be nothing-...!"

"You've said that before...!" he smirked to his Human's small pout. Deia snorted. "It's about going to Viricidia..-" he didn't have the chance to finish.

Deia screamed upsetly, fake hysterical screams. He blinked. "Who told you that...?! Howard ?!" Although it's a question but he could see the answer in his Human's eyes. He blinked again. "That's supposed to be a surprise vacatio-...!!" _she_ clamped _her_ mouth tightly when the word was spoken out, turning _her_ face from his. The usual fake-innocent smile masked _her_ face automatically.

He blinked once more. He knew his Human would have the tendency to see the trip that way.

They silenced for a moment. "You're going, right ?" _she_ stared him in the eyes, it has almost sounded like _she_ was pleading. He didn't answer. "You don't want to...?" _She_ thought to _her_self, too, that it would be too cruel to let _her_ Beast see the sky he wouldn't be allowed to see again, once they're back in this Land.

"I'll be with you wherever you go..."

"That's not the answer to my question..!"

He looked down, then slowly rested his head on his Human's lap, Deia lifted the wicker basket and put it on the floor. He didn't say anything, his gestures showed _her_ that he was tired, even though he was unconsciously hiding it. '..._you don't want to come back here_..' _she_ said in _her_ heart. A small grunt answered _her_.

'..._would you like us to elope together_...?' _she_ tried slowly.

No answer.

Deia almost wanted to ask him to say yes, knowing _she_ would jump to it without so much as a fraction thought of others if it was for him. _Just an excuse to justify herself_, _her_ heart whispered to _her_ mind. But even if it was not _her_, if it was not _her_ Beast to mind, if they were winged creatures like the Relic-prayers, would they be able to come back here, to this cage, after knowing a real sky out there...?

'..._how more cruel could you become, Mother.._..'

A cold biting clutched _her_ heart like a dark claw, _she_ squized _her_ lips tight. A soft mewling sigh came from the half asleep Beast on _her_ lap told _her_ that he felt it too. Deia stroked the soft unruly hair gently, willing the dark claw to sink back to the dark space deep inside _her_, so it wouldn't hurt _her_ Beast unconsciously. Crooning the Relic-prayer's song _she_ heard that daybreak, knowing it was a song of a restless soul calling for atonement even though _she_ didn't understand the language.

Staring at his half furled fetal pose, with both hands loosely-curled unconsciously near his slightly open mouth, another kind of pain slashed _her_ heart. Realizing that _she_'d been subjecting him to make a decision to hurt others for _her_ benefit, even knowing that he was too kind hearted, but would still do as _she_ bid, despite his heartache of wrongdoing. _How low could you degrade your loved-one...?_ _Her_ heart asked _her_..

--

"-This is the gift for Virion's lord, you remember what to call him, right..? This is for the trip and these ones for the ball...-" Lyea said on and on repeating the list for the umpteenth time.

Deia was sitting with _her_ body doubled on the table, _her_ hands covering _her_ ears. "...For Stratus' sakes, Lyea..!! I GOT those already...!!". Lyea stared at _her_ rather unconvincedly, though she clamped her mouth shut.

She was gone from her study to her bedroom, and appeared beside Deia with a neatly wrapped bundle complete with a ribbon with her insignia as a seal. Deia blinked, _time for the saved-treasury to come out..?_

At Deia's incredulously inquiring look Lyea spoke silently. "This is not mine...!"

Like, 'this was Mother's', then...!'. Deia rolled _her_ mind's eyes.

"Yuy wanted me to give this to you when the time comes...". Hearing that Deia snapped _her_ body straight. When seal opened and the bundle unwrapped, covered in a black cloth of shroud-Spell –at which Deia stared with surprise- was a folded cloth of... _She_ widened _her_ eyes in resentment. Brushed it with one hand rather swippingly then fled the room. Lyea didn't even bothered to call out to _her_, knowing where _she_'d be going to.

"YUY...!!". _Her_ angry shout was heard from a distance, but as the livid tone could be distinguished easily the soldiers at the Stone-field abruptly ceased their weapon training. All heads automatically turned to the direction the shout came from, except one brown head that happened to be presenting his back to that direction.

Deia walked in rigid strides, not minding _her_ long dress sweeping the damp fine-grass and grounds. Most heads gave _her_ a nod of salutation, while others must have had frozen in curiosity or bewilderment. The crowd gave a path to _her_ and _she_ rounded the teen-beast to stop in front of him.

"What is this...?!" _she_ took Yuy's hand opened palm and slapped _her_ hand on it. Leaving their hands like in a frozen shaking-hand pose. Yuy stared down with a tiniest turn of head to their joined hands, feeling a distinct trace of his own blood on _her_ hand that only he himself could perceive. He flicked his indifferent eyes to Deia's stormy eyes then back to their hands. How he wished his daily-space could be quiet and undemanding...

That flicker of thought brought Deia's anger to a higher level. _She_ gripped his hand tightly and tugged it forward to _her_. Yuy let the force jerk his body a little, still refusing to answer. Mostly, because he didn't feel comfortable in the presence of so many eyes watching their affair; in whichever meaning the word 'affair' they thought of it, he was aware that some of the inlanders thought of them –rather dreamily- like a classic slave-princess lovestory. He gave his Human a small bow from the waist, waiting for his Human to let go of his hand, patiently, submissively. His passive gesture made _her_ concede after a long moment, and _she_ tossed his hand aside and kept _her_ straight rigid hands at either of _her_ sides. Watching intently like an angry hawk at the Beast who turned his back to _her_ and walked away, back to his training new recruits, -the rather gawking new recruits.

"I won't be taking someone suicidal to escort me to Virion's capital...!!" _she_ said flatly and he only managed to take a few steps away from _her_. Snapped his upper body to turn at _her_, a small frown between his brows, .._suicidal ? Is that what his Human thought of him...?_

Deia saw his illegible sign of denial flickered in his prussian eyes and challenged his answer out by lifting _her_ chin a little. Yuy blinked, the black-covering on his halfface slithered away obediently to _her_ stubborn wish, leaving his thinned lips uncovered. He searched his Human's eyes for a while, opened his lips slowly, noting a flicker of triumph shining in _her_ eyes, then to everybody's surprise, he hissed showing his neatline of needle-sharp teeth that most people almost forgot he had them or never saw them until now.

Everyone blinked at that.

Deia stared him with renewed angry-stare, _her_ lips thinned refusing _her_ surfacing pout. Yuy thinned his lips again, matching _her_ half-downcasted face with a fierce angry stare directed at him. Now, that looked like a child-fight, instead. Or maybe a cat-fight…

"I'm not talking to you until you give me your answer..!!" Deia said _her_ ultimatum. Yuy stared _her_ for somemore time, then gave _her_ a slow salutation nod and turned back to his walking direction. That was most likely he was the one not talking to _her_. Almost everyone sweatdropped.

Deia turned _her_ body sharply, and left rigidly with a severe pout.

Lyea stared them from one of the dome-tower windows, the wide round-floored chamber at the upper part of the dome, you could classify it as an attic in common houses, it was where Deia usually spent _her_ training sessions with mostly Yuy in private. "...If you could not sweet-talk your Beast, then how could you sweet-talk some _human_-vultures, Dearest...?" she stroked the telescope in her hands unconsciously. It was said in a tired tone, although the almost-smirk smile on her lips betrayed that.

--

"... I know it's not my bussiness...," Circa tried at last after staring at him for almost a full fifteen minutes. "...aand...you can just shut me up if you mind it, but I'm too curious not to ask..." he waited the teen-beast to give any kind of protest sign. Just a calm face (if you rather not classify it as a closed indifferent expression), with eyes closed and stilled body. The winds from the open window at his side gave a little life to his stone-statued figure.

"...what was the Young Lady asking you about...?" Circa continued. Waiting patiently for his answer in any form, even in an ignorance form.

After a few minutes of nothing, a small whisper was heard. "...I gave Human a present. It's what you always reffered to as girl-things..." the last sounded almost like a question. Circa arched his brow, "You gave her a wrong kind of present, or what...?"

"It's a piece of cloth Human could use for a dress...!" the teen-beast still didn't open his eyes.

"Then, what's making the Young Lady so upset..?" Circa could distinguish his smallest sigh answering that question. "...apparently Human doesn't approve. And I thought I've waited for the right time so Human could use it for good...!"

"Doesn't approve of what..? A piece of cloth?" Circa asked with a frown. What was so wrong with such thing ? He didn't think that his beast-roommate had a hideous taste to give her a hideously patterned cloth, or something like that…

"..." Yuy parted his lips like he was going to try something, a small part of his mind could perceive what his older roommate thought and felt a little lightened. Clamped them again tightly. After some time passed, a silent whisper said, "...I dyed it with my blood..."

Circa bursted the chewed bread up and the crumbs rained back on his face lied on the pillow, he distractedly sought the cup on his drawer while the other one of his hand patted his chest with elbow propped his coughing figure. After he gulped down all the content in the cup, he asked hoarsely. "...you what..?!"

Yuy half opened his eyes, a little pout now surfaced his lips. "...Human is _my_ Human.., and I want to make clear of that..!!" –_specifically to those human-politians !_

Circa gaped at that admission, then a choked cough/laugh started from his throat, and gradually developed into a hysterical chortle. He threw the rest piece of the bread at him, and the empty cup, followed with his pillow; of which the teen-beast dodged easily with a minimum movement.

"...You...-!!" –laugh- "...you one possessive-beast...!" Circa couldn't say the rest of his remark because he was still laughing outbreathedly despite that his face had started to turn a green-shade of colour from oxygent lack.

A knock on the door, and Fern entered the room. Circa stopped his laugh almost immediately, wiping the tears from his eyes, catching his breath a little. The three of them stared each other for sometime, Fern sighed and plopped down on his own bed, aware of his roommates' eyes on him.

"How's Rhenaia and his brother doing...?" Circa asked softly.

"Although I wouldn't say that they're fine..." Fern answered while taking off his boots without looking at them, "...but she could accept what had happened to some extent, Saffie's still asleep afterward..". His body hit the mattress backward, staring at the ceiling. "She told me to give you her apology, Yuy. She understands that it wasn't your fault, and to tell you to be careful, that whatever was lurking free in here had most likely marked you..."

Yuy blinked. Fern turned his head to him, noting he was in his usual meditation pose by the wide window ledge. He smiled, "...she said she still couldn't face you herself, but since you're going out of the land for quite some time, she asked me to tell you that."

Yuy tilted his head a bit, "...should I...-?". He could trace the culprit's signature left in Saffie's subconscious mind, though some of The Charms had the skill too.

"No. Just concentrate on your task at hand, now that the Lord is not in the best condition, and The Council in a rather uneasy state. Once The Lady had her inauguration then they won't bother to be bothered by the Land's matters...then we could breathe a little easier about this internal affairs..! That means you have to ensure that whatever humans had plotted for us out there comes to our benefit..!" Fern said seriously.

"...Of which task he had to make up with our Emissary i.e. the Young Lady, first...!" Circa mumbled not so under his breath. Yuy blinked. Fern halfdrooped his eyelids, "You two had an argument again...?"

"Nope ! Just a child-fight, if you ask the _witnesses_ at the Stone-field...!" Circa smirked. Fern stared at Circa who stared back at him with a humor dancing in his eyes. They broke out into laughter some moments later, Yuy sweatdropped. "Really..!! What's the topic this time...?!" Fern asked between his laughter.

"...I don't think it's funny...!" Yuy stated flatly.

"No! No! ...But the looks on the new recruits' faces gawking...-!!" Circa waved his hand, while another one smoothed his chest that was choked by laughter.

"The incessant briefing by Master Lecturer would be better than the two of you...!" that meant Howard. The teen-beast got up from where he sat crosslegged, and headed for the door. His remark only fuelled his roomates' laughter more. He sighed the tiniest one at the door, "I might not be back here in time before departing to Viricidia, you two take care...!". He was saying as if they wouldn't meet again, Circa's mind whispered to him.

"Yes! Yes! Have some fun outside, since I don't think they'd allow both of you out for a honeymoon trip later...!" Fern shooed him with his hand. Yuy rolled his eyes, at least in his mind, then left.

Once their laughter subsided, they stared the closed door with a serious face. "What's their problem now..?" Fern asked flatly. "Well, our fun-to-be-made-fun-of roommate Yuy seemingly has to deal with his possessive behaviour a little..!" Circa said with a small smile.

Fern frowned, then turned his head outside the window. A lone Cotton-wind near their window tinkled gently in the wind. "Aren't they both the same at that...?" he asked matter of factly. Circa chuckled matter of factly.

"Your cup and pillow are outside the window...!" Fern added, leaving the known 'of 20 stories bellow'(1) unspoken. Circa moaned and dropped his head back to where his pillow supposed to be.

--

"...-are you sure about this arrangement...?!" Howard asked for the umpteenth time.

"It's settled, How-ward, don't sweat yourself too much, you're not that young to survive a dehidration at this age...!" Deia cut him with a smiling tone nicely smoothing _her_ iritated tone.

"...As if you could get dehidration at this kind of weather..!!" Howard retorted under his breath, a nice white fog formed from his warm breath. Deia heard him, nevertheless, _she_ laughed merily. It ringed beautifully in the uptight air at their departure. The cold biting Air didn't seem to agree with their decision to leave the Land, though.

Lyea neatened the thick fur-band lining _her_ cloak by the neck, for the umpteenth time too. Deia sighed deeply, "Would you please stop that already? This thing won't escape me in the ride…!" The climate had turned abnormally freezing the past two days, as if the Air decided not to let them escape its atmosphere. The Land didn't have water stock for raining in its 'clouds', it was just dampness turned icy in Archantra. The inlanders never knew snow, thusly; they only had frozen shower of the light-spores despite the fact that it supposed to be early spring at the time. In spite of that fact, the extreme turn of weather was not untypical for that land.

Lyea sighed for the –nth time, most likely to calm herself, "Alright..! You take care of yourself, out there !". That brought a low groan from Deia, "I'm not that reckless, Lyea..!". The maid Kyllea stood like a statue behind them watching the scene, her face was closed like always.

"You're always easy to be carried away..!". Another low groan, Deia covered _her_ head with both hands. Their paranoia was extremely annoying..!! Where has _her_ Beast gone to, leaving _her_ alone to endure this karma ?

Odin stared at the boy clad in black, his halfface-armor hid his nervous thinned lips, but the light danced in his Prussian eyes told the man his inner feelings, not anxiety but more like the expectation's euphoria. No, he's a teen now, Odin corrected himself, during the two years of joining the forces he had politely refused all the ranks offered to him, so he officially had no rank. But most of the soldiers respected his strength, little amount of others feared him, although he was not as distant as 'Thrice' to humans, they still felt the gap between their natures.

"Sir..?"

Yuy's small voice pulled Odin from his contemplation. The halfface-armor slid down from his face at the sound of his voice, Odin stared like watching a daydream. At his side the warsteed nudged his shoulder with its muzzle. He made a small sound of surprise, and cleared his throat.

"Yes..you're going now ?"

Yuy blinked, the General looked like he hadn't slept a few days, in fact he might have not been sleeping right in this last year; his mind was not as clear as it was before, when he perceived it from the man. Foggy and grayed, like breathing a smoky air, the Beast's sense complained.

"Yes, Sir.." he answered flatly.

Odin nodded a few times, most likely to himself, the Beast noted. The man rubbed the warsteed's strong neck almost distractedly, his eyes distanced. Then he made a gesture that he should come near him, he complied, although it took a few times of repeating until the Beast closed the distance to his liking. Not that he still didn't trust him, Odin knew, it was just that he politely didn't want to intrude his space.

Odin took the Beast's right hand and placed it's palm on the warsteed's forehead, his bigger right hand covering the back of it. He just gave another blink, scanned the man's readings without looking at him at his side. Foggy still…

"Take him with you..!"

Yuy sideglanced at the man. The horse gave a low long snort. A long silence reigned after that, he sensed the man's desire to lift his left hand and circle his smaller body, or just give him affectionate strokes on his brown head, but the hand didn't move. Still, he was grateful just for the man's feelings.

Nodded once. "Yes, Sir..", he gave a small smile. Odin nodded, pulled his own hand and let it dangle on his side. Stared the warsteed for a little more time, then left the stable without saying anything else.

"……..and don't show your real feelings even though they might be annoying you like hell…-" Lyea repeated for Stratus knows how many that day since the daybreak.

"…aaaaagghhhhh….can't you torture me with anything else other than that repetition..?!" Deia growled. Lyea humphed in indignation, but she shut up. Watching her _sister_ walking an impatient path on the same spot again and again like a wind up doll, waiting for _her_ Beast, was also a torture. She brightened when he finally showed up at the Castile's inner departure gate, lifted her brows when she noticed Odin's warsteed following him like a lost hellhound –not puppy, of course..!-.

Deia stopped in _her_ cleared track, a fine line of footprints marked the ground, _she_ didn't give any comment when _she_ saw the warsteed. Yuy had insisted to them that it was safer traveling in the smallest number, so he said they would ride to Virion. Any luggage they would have to bring would fit in Deia's sanctuary. …But he didn't say that they would ride Odin's warsteed. Despite that, _she_ didn't ask or show any of _her_ thoughts. They were still not talking to each other, after all.

Yuy gave a slow humble bow of gratitude to Lyea, who grabbed him for a hug when he straightened his body. Howard treated him like that, too. All the others were given the same bow from the Beast, Ruéa actually lifted him in her bearhug, he squirmed in her over-motherly antics with a flush on his face. That brought a bright flush on the other maids who watched them from a distance behind the tall bushes.

Deia ignored all of it, the Beast noticed half gratefully, …half dejectedly.

Lyea gave a last repetition of the must-not-be-forgotten list, Howard added a few sentences to Yuy, but Deia had closed _her_ senses and ignored everything. _She_ accepted the black-gloved hand offered to _her_ to mount the tall horse, let the Beast's strength lift _her_ body to sit behind his back. Everyone wished them good luck and safe journey and other similar things, the maids waved at _her _Beast with shy cheerful faces. _She_ stared at all of them from the end of _her_ eyes and just wanted to go away from _her_self…

--

The black warsteed galloped through the Forest, small frozen branches of the high trees bended low from their boughs like thick layers of small fingers spread to catch them in their way. Deia called _her_ Wrath out to shield them, but a few branches still managed to pierce through it and gave the warsteed and Yuy a few shallow cuts. They were not meant to wound them deeply, the Beast noted, just small stubborn touches as if they were farewell greetings. They paid no heed and continued the ride in silence.

At the end of the Forest, Yuy saw Kylle standing with his ever present angelic smile on his face. The warsteed gave a low snort. The red-head spread his hands wide. Deia tightened _her_ embrace on his body.

He was smiling…that's what the Beast remembered of him.

A flash of brightlight, a reflection of a smile.. They rode straight through his smoky figure…

..and they're out of the Land….

--

He's taller than _her_ by a head tall, Deia noted. _She_ never realized how much _she_'d pushed him; like _really_ saw it; maybe for _her_ little-self it was only natural that _her_ Beast do anything for _her_ sake.

…..that's why _she_ had to get away from _her_self……..

The hands embracing the Beast slackened a little. _She_ rested _her_ forehead on his shoulder, feeling the warsteed's run was not as fast as before. The rhythm that almost felt like a rocking lulled _her_ to sleep. _She_ closed _her_ eyes.

--

…_daijoubu ka..?_

A mind-whisper was heard as clear as the wind, _she_ never realized how beautiful it really sounded, too.

'…_hmm._.' Deia answered in _her_ mind.

…_couldn't sleep last night..?_

'with _Lyea's incessant repet__i__tion of her must-not-be-forgotten list who could have a piece of sleep…?!_' _she_ answered a little sarcastically. The Beast laughed a little to that, he thought he heard The-List plagued his Human's mind all night long through their linked mind.

'………_.you're free-er without the Air, aren't you_..' it's not a question. He didn't need to answer.

'_once this trip's over….you'd still go back to the Land ?_'

_I'll go where you go.._

'…_what if I'm the one saying that instead of you…?_'

A long pause.

…_.the trip's not over yet..!_

A reflection of a smile… a soft brush of an intangible cloth around his shoulders…..

_((…I'll be around….))_

--

The sky was as friendly as before, and the sun was as scorching as always. That's what they'd always remembered of the daylight. A man pulled the end of the cloth covering his lowerface and used it to wipe the sweat off of his face. He waved it to fan his burning skin a few times then circled the cloth back covering half his face.

A line of dust running faraway on the open desert caught his eyes, he took out a telescope from his pocket and took a peek. Made a low hum under his breath, "Sir, I think you'd want to see this..!" he spoke out carefully.

The sands behind him rose and cascaded, leaving a bigger man sitting in the sands, half his body was still buried under the fine grains. "What?"

"I thought I saw an eclipse running through the desert, or is it my shift time to rest coming earlier…-?" he said the last part with hopefull eyes and a stiff grin.

The bigger man scooted over in the shelter of the fried rocks, took the telescope and peeked. Reflexively lowered the thing to check with his naked eyes and took another look from it. "No! That's an eclipse running, alright..!" He gave the telescope back to the smaller man.

"One of the delegations invited to Viricidia..?"

"Seems like it." The man's voice was so low anyone would think that he's groaning his words out.

The smaller man put the telescope again in front of his eye, the black spectacles he wore was moved to the upper part of his forehead. "From what country do you think they are? Should we inform Master or just ambush them right here right now..?"

"From the magic-craft they're using it seems like they're from Archantra. The air-shield used to protect them from the sunlight confirms it..!"

The smaller man gave a short hiss, "….even from a land as secluded as Archantra..?! How greedy could _the_ Marquis be ?!"

The big man contemplated what he saw, then said, "You'd better stop watching them, because they can see you perfectly..!"

"Wha…-?" he lowered the telescope a little, but the question was never finished. A thunder-like cold feeling blasted through his every nerves surprised the man that the thing dropped from his grasp, his mind felt like a predator's eyes had marked him, and he dove reflexively into the sands. A low chuckle informed him that he's not going to die anytime soon, he emerged from the sands as if bowing low to the gap in the rocks from where they could see the said eclipse still running in a neat line of dust.

"Funny…! What was that…?!" the smaller man asked a little childishly, spitting out some grains that had managed to intrude the sanctity of his mouth.

"Apparently a beast riding on a beast-ride..!" –chuckle-, "…although that's strange…I don't think Archantra had that kind of beast living naturally in it's territory..!" -a frown-.

"The one riding, or the one running…?!" the smaller man asked rather sarcastically.

"Hmmmm….both..?!" his big comrade answered as if to himself.

"I'll report to our Master, then..-"

"Wait! No, I think that's not necessary. The plan's not going to change, anyhow….Besides,.." a deeper frown, "I think I know that beast riding on the warsteed…!"

"Though….." –a hiss-like long sigh- "….they said that they had made sure that he's dead." The big man mumbled to himself, scratching his head, "We're definitely going to have a big-scale war, then….!" -a long curse under his breath.

"…Hu..?" the smaller man asked in confusion, not catching his comrade's drift.

--

'…_anooou….how long, again..?_'

_Five days shorter than our schedule_…

Deia sighed, '_Why? Are you that eager to have the trip ended sooner than it's scheduled..?_'

He blinked, a frown, now that he thought of it he realized that he'd wanted to flee as soon as they got out of the Land's barrier. Must be the wind that got to him.

_I thought it'd be sa__f__er that it's not a passage anyone could use… I don't want to deal with thugs and robbers on the way to that place..!_

'_Uhmm…_' Deia sideglanced to where _she_ felt the two men watching them, '_You mean someone like those guys..?_'

'_..demo…..I don't feel any threats from them, though. But I felt a confirmation of familliarization from your harmony, Pru.._'

Yuy flickered to their direction from the end of his eye, but he didn't care about them right now.

…._must be IT recognized someone I've met before..!_

'_Oh, you mean the craftplate in your chest; you know them..?_'

_I've met a lot of creatures, I can recognize anyone when I face them. Right now they're not something you should worry about..! _Because the people of Archantra never exposed to sunlight naturally, he feared something might happen to his Human, although _she_ had insisted that it was the moonlight that hated _her_, not the sun.

Deia pulled _her_ body back almost like reclining to the wind behind _her_, let the hands dangle on both sides of _her_ thighs, mesmerized by the softness of the winds caressing _her_ hair. It almost felt like _she_ had wings. Through the clear blacksheet of _her_ Wrath-Spell _she_ watched the men on the faraway rocks lazily, a feeling of superiority that no human's eyes could see through the Spell lulled _her_ worries to their dark space back. But those were not the worries for _her_self, those were for _her_ Beast's sake; what _she _always feared was that _she_ would lose him when they get out of the grasp of the Land. _She_ could hold onto him, but if he choose to leave _her_ _she_ thought _she_'d let _her_ hands go, anyway.

"Alright…" _she_ murmured, "Let's face the monsters, then…!"

"But what about the five days spared..? We'll arrive at the city five days earlier and just stay at the palace as freeloaders…?!" _she_ frowned at the animosity _she_ felt.

The Beast smirked a little, "I thought you wanted to have a vacation..!" he whispered.

Deia's brows lifted up. The warsteed neighed softly.

--

The labyrinth of stairs was dark; damp cold air filled the space, empty silent cavities of window shape lined the walls like the construction of a beehive. With no light source, some people would think that the cavities had eyes watching them when they walked down the spiral stairs. A ceasless wuthering sound of the wind was heard as the swirling shapeless currents travelled up from the deepest vertical tunnel in the middle.

The sounds of light steps was heard whispering down the stone stairs, a soft brush of a cloth followed behind. When the white hooded figure reached the base floor there were black mirrorlike glaze-stones in the cavities lining the wall in a full circle waited patiently, a void in the middle of the hollowed vertical chamber still tunneled down deep into the earth, ghostly whispers were heard every now and then carried by the wind up. Even without light the mirrorlike surfaces still reflected the person in the white robe when he passed them. Sharp eyes sideglanced at every glaze-stone passed, the person stopped when he found one that didn't reflect his figure back; instead, the glaze-stone showed a liquid figure of a white simple mask with a slender dagger as its body. The mask was the size of an adult's face, with holes of large eyes, a pretty upturned nose and almost pouty lips, like the kind of mask usually used in masquerades; while the dagger was transparent as if made of glass. An obelisk sign on the mask's forehead was shining when the person stopped in front of it.

"How is he..?" the smooth voice asked.

(Still as before, Shire..) the mask answered with a vibrating voice of a male and a female, the holes of eyes stared with an awareness of a sentient being.

The man snorted lightly through his nose, "And I thought that now when I have a living dragon this war would turn on my side..-!" he muttered.

"Well, since he's old enough to be several times my ancestor, I'd say just let him be for the time being. It's not like I'd wanted him to be used in a war, anyway."

"Just let me know when he wakes..!" – _IF he wakes_…his mind amended.

(Yes, Shire..)

The man turned and walked back to the round stairs lining the wall, but stopped after a few steps. He tsked to himself, then walked back to the front of the glaze-stone, the mask was still patiently waiting there. "Show me !", he commanded.

The mask didn't answer more, but the glaze-stone gradually illuminated itself, centered from the mask's obelisk sign. The window-shape stone became clearly transparent and showed a foggy chamber behind it, there was a young man with jet black hair sitting crosslegged on a pedestal, his head was down in a meditation pose that made the face covered by his hair that was so long it even piled up on the floor. The man knew by heart that his eyes were closed.

He stifled a sigh and just swallowed once, lifted up his right hand to trace the hidden face on the black glaze-stone surface with his fingertips, the slippery shell felt frozen to his touch. How he wished that that face would feel warm when he did that, anytime now… That he could let those raven tresses aside so that he could see his whole face. Just a futile wish, he knew. Or maybe just curiousity piled up for years. He'd been seeing that stilled figure for almost a decade now, not being capable of doing anything - to see or to touch.

He tsked again, heavier in frustration, and covered that face with his open palm. Nodded once, and the glaze-stone became black again. Dropped his hand and left without saying anything else, this was his only salvation, everyday, even though the frustration and disappointment killed him a little each day. His white hood that was longer than his robe followed whisperingly up the stone stairs, on the back of the loose garment an insignia of an axe-like figure shone in goldenness in the sunlight when he reached the tower roof. The roof had no barricade or wall surrounding its edge, there were only two statues on either side of the tower's ledge, formed as a model of part-shining sun with flames/rays blazing outward on a stake of a blade. Wholy formed like an axe or a sword with an opened wing, especially if they were as big as those statues.

A great hawk flew circling the sky above the lone tower. He looked up and smiled, lifted his right hand opened as if catching the magnificent bird with his grasp, the sunlight blinded his sight from between his fingers, and he let his sight go white as he lost the sight of the bird in the grand sky. Just as he couldn't catch the bird no matter how high he tried to reach out his hand up. A high pitched cry echoed as if bidding him a farewell, and he knew the bird had flown away from his blinded sight.

The strong breeze carried his soft sigh unheard, he was still smiling to the sky using his lifted hand to cover his eyes from the blazing light.

A rustling of cloth brought his mind back from the deep indigo sky, he cocked his head a little to his left, sensing a presence behind him.

"….Master..!" a black robed figure stood in a hunched pose, both hands put together on its front by the chest.

"Time for execution, now ?" the man in the white robe asked with a pleasing voice.

"You know The Lord didn't mean you any harm, Master..!"

A snicker. "Right, that's why he locked me in this tower for more than a decade !". It was meant as a sarcasm.

"Yes, Master..!". Or may be a fact.

"What does he want now…", almost not like a question.

"The Lord wants you to take his place in the alliance party he'd planned two weeks from now, Master."

A deep chuckle. "You're joking, Bland ? He'd already kill me when he took the throne for himself if not because of my pure blood..!"

"No, Master. Yes, Master..!" the black hooded figure bowed respectively. That habit of always answering and entitling him showed the servant's loyalty to him, and it alleviated his rigidness, knowing that the servant didn't mean it but he'd always find the antics funny.

He walked to the tower's edge and sat, letting his foot dangle and another one bended so he could put his elbow on his knee. " Maybe you should remind him of his precious heir, Bland..-"

"Young Lord had an accident in the hunt two months ago, Master. He died a week after, Master..!"- _that's why he'd planned to gain allies from other countries to support his own position, not Master's_.

Looks like Bland forgot to inform him about this. He sideglanced at the black robed figure behind him, "And…?"

"And The Lord fell ill after his death, and as it got more and more severe through each day to the present, The Lord had no choice than to let you take his place, Master…!" - _since the dignitaries wouldn't support him anymore_; another slow deep bow.

A frown. "Bland….", he said slowly, "…you didn't..-"

"It's your rightful time, Master..!"

With a tired sigh, he massaged his temple slowly. "I told you I didn't want their deaths; no matter what they're still part of my family…!",- _even__though they're suspected of scheming evil plans to take the throne from him_.

"Because they didn't put you to death, or because you want them to suffer more before their deaths, Master..?"

He turned sharply with a look of rage burned in his eyes, Bland kneeled abruptly realizing his bluntness had burnt him (again), putting both hands and his forehead flat on the floor.

The man's anger almost gone immediately when he heard the loud thunk of his servant's forehead hit the stone floor in fear and remorse. He snorted and turned back to the plain sight under the tower. The city laid out in a structure of an elevated land piled up behind another, like an enormous rice-field of buildings. He always watched this side of the cityscape from the tower's roof, he hated the sight of the castle laid behind the tower. He loved his people, not the power as a ruler; that's why even though he'd thought of ending his life more than several times, he'd never followed out to them and rather choose to bear a life in exile.

"Bland, come here..!"

"…Master…" Bland said in fear despite the light smiling voice of his Master.

"Come here sit next to me..!" the man patted the space beside him, "I won't throw you off the edge !" he said chuckling to himself.

The black hood wormed slowly on the floor to his side, like a shelless black snail, and stopped when the hands in front of the head touched the edge of the tower's ledge. "You're not affraid of heights, are you ?", the man chuckled again.

"Yes, -no, Master..!" Bland half whispered, still keeping his head on the floor.

"What's that suppose to mean ?" he asked with a smile, "Sometimes…?"

"No, you won't throw me off the edge, Master…!"

He laughed, "You skipped the question, Bland..!". Bland shrunk more in his prostration, a strong big hand patted the black hooded head spontaneously, "It's good to have wings when you have the freedom to fly, right, Bland…?", he said as he spotted the great hawk flying in the sky faraway.

The head straightened up, showing a red-skinned face with streaks of white fur lining the cheeks from its sideburns like scratch marks. "….Master..!", his slanted ruby colored eyes softened with a sadness.

"Tell me about the OWL's progress !"

--

It was a very long passage through the mountains' back, along their thin line of earth's spine.

Deia gulped as _she_ stared the dark opening that was like an open mouth ready to swallow anything who dared to enter, with no guaranty of spitting it out at its other end, or even '_it__ would __ spit us out at the other end, right…?!_' –_ma..maybe I shouldn't use the word spit….like, what would we look like after we pass through…_.

_Afraid..?_

A mindwhisper snapped _her_ head to the face in front of _her_s.

'_Me? -…_' an abrupt pause, on second thought…._she_ swallowed _her_ dignity '_should I__ be__…?_'

The Beast only smirked to those large inquiring purple eyes. He patted the warsteed neck a few times, whispering something to its right ear. Without the protection of _her_ Spell guarding _her_ back, _she_ admitted to _her_self that _she_ felt a little unsettled….NOT afraid..!

A light change of harmony _she _sensed in their atmosphere made _her_ frown, '_You're not laughing at me, are you, Yuy…?!_' Deia asked emphasizing his name to show him that _she_was angry.

_No, Human-mine..!_, was the answer, but a lighter harmony told _her_ that he'd have laughed outright if he were as carefree as _her_. That brought _her_ famous severe pout out, but the warsteed's step into the mouth of the passage made it gone abruptly. _Her_ hand spontaneously sought _her_ Beast's cloak as the light suddenly disappeared from upon their figure.

A gloved hand held _her_ other hand that was dangled unceremoniously beside _her_ thigh, and circled it around his body to his front.

_Want to move to the front ?_

'.._uunh….it's okay, this is a sa__f__e passage, right…?_' – although _her_ spine felt a little more frozen than before, Deia smiled through _her_ nervousness. '…_right ?!_' _she _repeated as there was no answer to _her_ question.

…_.I said i__t i__s sa__f__er__,__ that it's not a passage anyone could use…!_

'_WHAT..?! You mean anyone as in anyone as in including us..-_'

_Shh..! Not a word in here !_

Another blackgloved hand took _her_ hand from his cloak and circled it to his front like the previous. Deia abruptly held his body flat to _her_s, '_You just want me to hold you like this..!!_' –but _her_ heart felt safer.

The gloved hand held _her_s on his stomach. And they rode on slowly through the dark passage.

Every now and then there were light movements _she_ could sense in the hidden spaces of the dark crannies. Stares, breaths, rustles of cloths or furs…sometimes stealthy hisses. The warsteed had walked for several hours now, though it felt more like days, Deia couldn't deny _her_ curiousity despite _her_ nervousness. Strangely enough, the darkness calmed _her_ more than _her_ Wrath-Spell; perhaps because using _her_ Spell would consume _her_ emotions more than _her_ vital-force.

'_Pru… they're..-_' Deia thought after being silent for the whole time since they entered. '_…people(!)…, right ?_'. A strong mind, _she_ could read from the big furry-something dangling from the passage's roof above them. Intellegence and savageness… even the scattered bones along their way felt to have their own presence.

Yuy didn't respond for quite a while, when he did he sounded more gloomy than he used to.

…_.if you…_

'_What..?_'. It was so silent Deia almost didn't catch his mind-whisper.

…_.if you ever.. have to seek a refuge-place,__when __you couldn't trust others outthere…_

Deia blinked, staring at the back of the brown head, _she_ didn't realize that _her_ eyes could see just as perfectly in the darkness even without _her_ Spell.

…_you might just come__here…. Though they would judge you at first, you just have to hold your virtues …they'll keep you sa__f__e..!_

A long pause. Deia only stared at his brown tresses that oddly enough to _her_ realization were shining bluish aura in the passage's darkness. Or maybe to _her_ eyes only….

'_Yuy…._' _She_ thought slowly and carefully, _'…are_ _you not going to take me back to The Land…?_', even though _she_ used questioning form but _she_ did make it sounded like a fact.

'………_..you make it sound like you're not going to be with me afterwards…!_'

His hand covering _her_s tightened a little.

_She_ could let go, _she_ thought to _her_self. Where are you going alone…? _Her_ mind echoed, to him and to _her_self both.

If _she_ were to be left alone, _she_ thought _she_ would just follow him even secretly.. _She_ had noone else _she_ would want to be with outhere.

_Maybe not yet…._

A reflection of mind flickered in _her_ consciousness. _She_ widened _her_ eyes at it, _she_ didn't know if it was the Beast's thought or _her_s, but still, it hurt _her_ feelings for a fraction of second before _she_ hid it behind _her_ mind-shield.

--

"…This is Virion's suburb….!"

A light, clear and smooth voice halfwhispered to _her_ ear, it brought up some bitter-sweet feelings first before _she_ managed to open _her_ eyes. A soft gasp, a questioning moan, a bright light assaulted _her_ eyes. Deia moaned again as _she_ blinked _her_ sleepy eyes, trying to adjust to the daylight. Noticing after a while that the sky was cloudy grey with white rays randomly shone through the soft layers of clouds. When _her_ mind was clear enough to realize that _her_ Beast had spoken to _her_ instead of whispering, _she_ frowned, although there was a tingling of delight bloomed in the back of _her_ mind where _she_ kept _her _selfish ego. _She_ blinked it off once, staring at prussian gems focused at _her_ violets with a myrth danced in them. _She_ frowned again.

"Whaat…?"

A soft breathy snicker, his lips quirked upward in a pleasant smirk. "You slept like a baby… I felt like a mother-monkey back there…!"

Deia didn't respond for quite a long pause, a stunned stiff half-grin plastered on _her_ face. "…….like… a baby-monkey….?!" A fine flush on _her_ face made _her_ Beast chuckle softly.

_D__espite your nervousness, you did enjoy the ride more than me, didn't you…?_ He faced forward again, and the warsteed started to walk leisurely.

"…unnnh….looks like it….." The breeze welcomed _her_ with new fragrances it carried from the landscape around them, _her_ mind supplied _her_ with the realization of some unfamiliar vibes that were enticing _her _Harmony. Something that lured _her _agitation to sleep. Like a little heady feeling of enchantment, weaved in the free air and wafted from their surroundings. _She_ tried to shake the thrilling sensation off, and reassembled _her_ Harmony in _her_ own Order. Then frowned again to _her_self, observing the view laid out around them of giant granite rocks scattered like a natural maze with rugs of soft grass covered the grounds between. The grey rocks reverberated soft chimes to _her_ harmony waves, a sense of tranquility that was forcing its entry into _her_ mind, now _she_ could distinguish it, must have been it that had put _her_ to sleep halfway through the passage. _She_ didn't even remember when _she_'d fallen asleep.

The natural tranquilizer this powerful….. So this is The Land of Beast-tamer….!

"Prussian….." Deia called softly, the concern was clear in _her_ voice.

"Just a little heady…. It's fine..!"

But this is only the suburb and it's already this strong. Something that _everyone_ in _her_ homeland never warned them about..! _She_ gritted _her_ teeth subtly. "But the capital must be more….-"

A black-gloved hand gently cupped _her_ chin forward, the brown head cocked and brushed _her_s with its side affectionately. "Don't worry about it…!", the whisper was so gentle _she_ felt _her_ face burn.

"But…-" _she_ gasped weakly, a little too shaken by the warmth in his enchanting voice. The Prussian gems narrowed warmly in a supposed smile caught _her_ eyes that _she_ didn't even manage to see whether his lips were really smiling or not.

When he faced forward again, _she_ started to get _her_ awareness back. Blinked and swallowed once. Realizing _she_ had been carried away by his eyes and the land's harmony, _she_ looked down at _her_ tangled nervous hands, feeling another hot blush intruding _her _composed face.

'but you're acting not like your usual self…..!' _she_ mouthed to _her_self slowly. Well, not like _she_ minded him acting a little warmer…or maybe _she_ should say tempting…? A thought jerked _her_ mind, _is he going to act like that to everyone here…?!_ A nervous chuckle slowly let out from _her_ lips turned to sinister laugh; _yeahh, right…! Over everyone's dead body…!!_ _She_ smirked with a wild stare in _her_ eyes.

_Her_ Beast glanced at _her_ face. "Are you okay? You're acting weird…"

"Am _I_….?!" a devilish aura swirled around _her_, and he patted the warsteed to run thinking that his Human was tired.

A series of long highpitched chuckles echoed by the big grey rocks following the warsteed's steps made it run faster with pricked ears.

--

Okay, so his black halfface-armor was back on his face, and he wore a hooded cloak that covered his eyes everywhere, and he tried to be as stoic as usual, not even making eye contact with anyone more over chatting or looked like he was going to….. so why did his Human still had this devilish aura that was getting darker and darker everytime they stopped at a people's place like a market or an inn…?

…_.even the streets……!_ The Beast sweatdropped.

And everytime he asked whether his Human was fine or not, _she_ would answer with a low "I'm perrrrfectly fhinnne…!!" which in Deia-ish translated as 'ABSOLUTELY THE OPPOSITE, are you STUPID?!'

And so he sweatdropped again for the –nth time today. It's only been the third day that they arrived in the occupied place (the rather crowdy places, he had to admit; since he didn't enjoy crowd as well) and _her_ escalating aggravation made it more and more difficult to keep his composure. So much for trying to keep your low profile! As he'd said before, they would have 5 days spared from their trip plan, so he was planning to treat his Human to a vacation in the (Virion's) cities just like what _she_'d called it back then _her_self, but now he was thinking maybe this was a bad idea with a real serious politics matters coming and _she_ was as dark as true dark could ever be. Growling and staring venom to everyone that neared them, or looked like was going to get near them.

He put the blankets the inn keeper gave them on one of the beds, focusing on the sound of the door closing behind him, and strode fast to pin his Human's forehead with his to the door panel. The violet orbs under the silvery grey hood glared at his prussians under his black hood. "What?!" _she_ asked in annoyance.

He patiently stared back _her _dark stare until he felt _her_ dark feelings downed and _her_ violet orbs cleared of their venom. "…Hmm..?" _she_ asked again, he noted _she_ was also scrutinizing something in his eyes and seemed like satisfied enough with what _she _found.

"Do you want to head to Viricidia right away…?" he whispered flatly. Noting the dark venom had bursted instantly in _her_ violet orbs again. _She_ drooped _her_ eyelids, "Do you want to get there as fast as you can, Yuy…?!" the smirk on _her_ face looked like it was intended to bare one of _her_ fangs only.

Deia pushed his body from _her_ way and walked to the bed, while loosening _her _light cloak on the way. _She_ threw the thing to the bedpost, and before _she_ knew it _her_ body hit the mattress and _her _Beast was crouching over _her_, both hands at either side of _her_ head, _her_ feet dangled by the edge of the bed with his bended knees kept _her_ down at both sides of _her_ thighs.

It was his beastly gesture to force _her_ attention focused on him, _she_ realized, not something more, _she_ thought a little disappointedly. So _she_ sighed _her_ aggravation out, and closed _her_ eyes, even knowing that _her_ Beast wouldn't catch _her_ implication by that act. As thought, he silenced for a while, then whispered in irritation "What are you doing…?", because he was doing it supposedly so his Human would focused to him or what he was going to say.

Deia huffed, "…Stupid thing over some stupid feelings, apparently…! Get off of me Yuy, I need a bath..!" _She_ opened _her_ eyes and caught his frowning stare still on _her_ eyes. "Like, now, not tomorrow..!!" Deia half barked to his mask of face.

He complied and stood aside, all the while keeping his eyes on _her_ like a beast did.

Deia didn't spare a glance at him when _she_ headed to the bathroom, feeling a little jealous over something _she_ _her_self felt inside, this was getting more and more distinctive nowadays, it's as if _she_ had two-hearts inside that kept bickering over something they both feel in the same time.

_A warm bath could do….!_ _She_ thought; _-…not!_ Feeling the warm water was not as familiar as the water in _her_ small pool in _her_ bathroom. _She_ sighed, feeling upset at _her_self for feeling upset in the first place.

The Beast was sitting on his bed with his back to _her_s, a little hunched. He'd made the beds, and there were some light meals on the nightstand separating their beds. He still had his black cloak on, with the hood covering his head perfectly. Deia stared his unmoving figure while _she_ dried _her_ hair with a towel.

"I've put your things out if you want to use the bathroom…!" _she_ tried flatly. But he didn't budge. _She_ frowned thinking that he was ignoring _her_. Threw the towel to the hanger by the wall, snatched _her_ cloak and went to the door. Stopped by a mere second to see whether the Beast cared, but on second thought, _she_ didn't feel like _she_ even cared if he cared or not, so _she_ opened the door and went out of the room.

He didn't move a fraction.

--

The inn was quite crowded at the evening, the first floor was open more as a brasserie at night, and a more proper eatery at day. This small city was quite bussy as many travelers moved through it to get to the capital. So, why was it still counted as a small city? There was a river that oddly enough was divided by the higher land which was the city and flowed as one stream again on the other end of the city, in summary, it was a city in the middle of a river. The stream was not very strong but the water was very deep, the dangerous thing was the under stream that could take even the strongest swimmer down and if they come up the river again –or maybe down- it was only if they're lucky enough to emmerge after the waterfall spit them up from its depth.

Deia stared the water from the big arch bridge, _her_ white reflection stared back with the steady water flow making it waver from time to time. _She_ didn't feel alienated in the colorful land, there was one thing _she_ couldn't get out of _her_ mind that plagued and kept _her_ restless even though there was nothing real for _her_ to mind. _She_ sighed deeply, watching _her_ reflection staring back at _her_ with a smirk on its face, the light display of the dusk sometimes made it look like it was making movements _she_ didn't make, but when _she_ blinked it off _she_ thought it was just _her_ imagination.

Some people stared at _her_ when they passed _her_ by on the bridge but _she_ paid no heed. A few boatmen called _her_ with friendly faces, asking whether _she_'d like a tour on the riverside. _She_ thought _she_ couldn't have said it more clearly that _she_ was a foreigner then _her_ looks did. Some drunk men from the other side of the land gave _her_ catcalls and made some gestures that _she_ didn't want to care about.

"From which House are you…?" suddenly a nice looking mid aged man asked from behind _her_.

Deia didn't feel him coming so _she_ was quite surprised finding him already so close to _her_. "House…?". The past dusk light already gave in to the darkness and let some stars shone in their own soft sparkles. An elderly candleman lighted the bridgelamp near them that casted a soft shine to _her_ skin and a little of _her_ locks that escaped _her_ covering hood. The mid aged man looked caught for a second, sporting a flush on his face, before he smiled warmly.

"Are you lost, Miss?"

"No..!" Deia frowned, a little unnerved by the fact that he could get near _her_ without _her_ realizing it.

"..Ah, I'm sorry. Do I look suspicious..?" he tried when he saw the look in _her_ eyes.

"Yes !". That was so blunt, the man sweatdropped. He cleared his throat and stepped back a little from _her_ space. "I apologize, I was only thinking that you might not be familiar with this area.." He pointed to the other side of the land across the city, the mountains' shade already made the low forest dark, with specks of light from streetlamps or house windows shone like a pack of stars. "After dark, there always are some not quite nice people coming from that direction to the entertainment stores there." He pointed to the city direction.

"Even though I wouldn't say that they're bad people, but I wouldn't suggest for a young lady like you to be wandering around alone at this hour, especially in this area..!" he smiled politely.

Deia blinked, there was something bothering _her _senses about this man. Even though he acted politely like a fine gentleman. "So which House are you from?". There came the question again. _She_ thought of a generic answer, and only could come up with a word.

"Home..!"

"Oh, so you're still finding one..!". Somehow the way his face brightened so suddenly made _her_ uncomfortable. '_One for what..?! Do I look like a stray pet ?!_' _her_ mind said sarcastically, thinking that _she_ already had a room in the inn. Right after _she_ thought of it a sudden memory hit _her_ like a slap on _her_ face.

"_Archantra's inlanders have really distinctive looks and there are many rich people who'd want to spend their money on the likes of you" _

That memory of the mercenaries surfaced at the exactly wrong moment, when _she_ was trying to push _her_ dark feelings down, and in only a mere second _she_ decided that _she_ didn't want to push them down. The man suddenly cowered seeing the sudden change on _her_ face, the looks in _her_ eyes that seemingly wanted to kill someone directed at him. He stepped back and said some lame excuse to bid farewell and fled to the riverside.

Deia tossed _her_ cloak pass _her_ shoulders roughly feeling like _she_ wanted to hit someone, let it fluttered in the wind before it fell covering _her_ body again. _She_ stomped back to the inn direction after that, thinking that _she_ didn't want to lash it out to _her_ Beast.

"…_.such a daring pearl…!_" the wind brought the man's whisper to _her_ ears. Deia stopped in _her_ track, but continued after taking a few deep breaths.

The inn's brasserie was full and noisy, but as expected, the wide room silenced gradually when _she_ entered and passed by the bar to walk up the staircase to _her_ room. A servant boy banged his body to the wall to make way for _her_ on the stairs, gripping the wooden tray with both hands flat to his chest as if a shield to fend a dragon with. Deia casted a sideglance at his pale face, and he tried a nervous smile. _She_ stared at him for a few seconds and headed straight to _her_ room, ignoring the poor boy who slid down the wall at _her_ leave.

"…That customer is really scary, Owneeerr..!" his distant whine heard when Deia opened the door. "Hussh!! Or else-…", whatever the Owner at the bar said to him was muted by the closed door, not that _she_ really cared anyway.

The Beast in the black cloak was still sitting like a statue on his bed, just like when _she_ left him about an hour ago. There were two sets of supper put on the table, the light meals on the nightstand were still untouched. Deia took _her_ cloak off and sat by the table, "You're not hungry..?", and started to eat alone seeing that _she_ got no answer from him.

…_wrong kind of people..! A bad liquor smell…disgusting wet leer_….and _she_ woke up in the middle of the night with a start, a small part of _her_ mind felt grateful that _she_ didn't wake up violently in fear of making _her_ Beast worried. _Her_ hand sought the said Beast's bedside, thinking that it was _her_ large bed in _her _chamber, but touching the edge of the bed instead. _She_ frowned and sat up, finding _her_ Beast still in his pose on his bed. Covered the blanket like a veil around _her_, _she_ crept to him and embraced his body from behind, putting _her_ head on his shoulder and closed _her_ eyes. This felt safer..! And _she_ didn't have anymore nightmares till morning.

Gentle strokes on _her_ head woke _her_ up around dawn, a warm wave of possessiveness, and a steady burn of expectation. Deia sighed a contented smile, "Mmm..? What ? Why are you petting me, Pru..?". A sense of euphoria bloomed around them and _she_ opened _her_ eyes. "What? You're expecting something..?"

The black hood didn't move a fraction, but the blackgloved hand stroking _her _head stopped and joining his other hand on his lap.

Curiousity baited, Deia reached out _her_ hand around his head. "What ?" _She_ was going to cup his forehead and back his head to _her_ shoulder, but instead _her_ hand found a velvety long..

'…_muzzle..?_' _she_ thought stunnedly. Deia grabbed his shoulders and forced him to turn facing _her_. He still had his head facing down, but the long thing covering his whole face was protruding from under the hood he was wearing.

"…Pru….." Deia whispered lamely after some long seconds. In the back of _her_ mind _she_ felt a shy blush crept on his face under the shield of the muzzle. "…Wi…will this do…?" he whispered weakly.

"….do….what..?" Deia asked stunnedly.

He seemed like trying to find the words before he answered, "…the…..capital..!"

Deia widened _her_ eyes at his admission. "OOH..! No..-!", _she_ sat back. "No..-, Pru…!!"

The muzzle straightened and faced _her_ face, "This won't do…?", his whisper was vulnerable by disappointment and fear.

"NO ! I mean.., you..-!". Deia closed _her_ eyes abruptly facing up at the ceiling, covered _her_ face with the blanket in frustration at _her_self, and rearranging _her_ feelings with deep breaths. After what felt like a short second to _her_, and ages for him, _she_ faced him back pulling the blanket from _her_ head in the same time. _She had a stern look on her face..,_ _she_ could feel his lips quiver in _her_ mind.

"So you realized..!" _she_ huffed. "I didn't mean to feel jealous over something that WOULDN'T happen….but I can't stop thinking that you…-". _She_ clamped _her_ mouth, and bowed from the waist to him. _She_ felt him blinked a little stunnedly. "I shouldn't have pushed you like that..! Like this…"

_She_ stayed bowing until _she_ felt the fear of rejection ebbing from strangling his mind. The fear he always had in his heart, _she_ knew, but kept forgetting and abused it unconsciously, and sometimes not so unconsciously. He's not used to speak out his heart verbally, that's why when he had someone he thought he could be submissive to he opened his mind to them, whether it was intended or not.

"You…don't like it…" it sounded like a question and not. Deia straightened up again and stared. His eyes were casted down behind the muzzle. _She_ stared.

A white hand touched the black thing tentatively, it felt velvety and yet like a metal at the same time. A silent ringing _she_ felt reverberated _her_ palm when _she_ cupped its side. It's alive!

"This…. Your craftplate..?" _she_ whispered a little trancelike. A miniature nod. _She_ smiled, "It's beautiful..!".

The muzzle was made of layers of velvety plates and formed like a mythical creature's head, resembled a dragon's, slender and strong and exotic. There were four horns at the top of its head, two big ones as the main-horns, a pair of smaller ones a little under and at the side of the main ones. Another pair at either sides of its temple, and three pairs of batwings in exchange of ears. The muzzle reminded Deia of The Collector's snake-skull a little, only existed of the head and upper jaw/nose, a dark hollow space of its 'mouth' showed his real armored chin, with a pair of fangs hugging his face strategically. It had four black holes of 'eye' at the muzzle's sides, with his real eyes hidden perfectly in the shade of the jaw's hollow, covered by blackness. Another pair of a very slanted fake-eyes of black gemstone gleaming at its forehead.

"I like it !" _she_ said smiling, "But I kind of miss your face…!" _she_ mumbled to _her_self. _She_ felt his smile blooming and blinked at the realization - _she_ could feel him in _her_ mind! And it wasn't disguised by his usual stoic mask.

"…ooh…okay !" _she_ smiled warmly, a little flush colouring _her_ face. "You have to bear with me too, na, Pru..?". A blackgloved hand covered _her_s on the black muzzle, and he rubbed it with the side of it.

So he gave himself to _her_ a long time ago, but _she_ kept needing the assurance and hurt him with rejections over and over.

--

Breakfast time didn't find the inn's first floor to be fully crowded as it was at night, but quite some customers came to have breakfast or morning brews. The servant boy almost dropped his empty tray when they came down the stairs, _she_ didn't look murderous now but _her_ Beast's full-armored face must be more than eye-catching. The Owner stared at them with his cigar dangling precariously from his gaping mouth.

The Beast didn't pay any attention to the stares directed at them, and just took a seat at the corner table facing the window to the backyard. A thick vine with bluish flowers decorated the far wall and the tall wooden fences aligning it. He pointed at the plant with a flick of his chin, Deia sat down on the chair next to him and casted a glace at what he pointed. The vine had a nice maroon shade at the outersides of its leaves and purple stems. Some greyish blue small songbirds _she_ never saw chirping happily on the wall and fences.

"Uh…you're right, they reminds me of Lyea..!" _she_ smiled, stole a sideglance at him, stared back at the little birds. "…are you going to eat like that..?", _she_ mumbled.

_I'm not hungry…_ Deia frowned at his admission. '_You barely eat anything since we got to this country..!_' _she_ pointed out. '_Something to do with this land's tranquilizer ?!_'

A breathy snicker only _she_ could hear, .._No. Just don't need to as much as in your Land. I can absorb some natural energy from the nature outhere..!_

'_Oh! Just don't get drunk by the tranquilizer..!_' _she_ commented.

_I've been to places with far thicker enchantments in its air before. But I had to admit that the Air was too much even for me to adapt to…!_ A submissive smile.

"Ha..!" Deia smiled superiorly, but _her_ hand subtly stroked his under the table's sheet.

"…-, Miss.., Master !" the servant boy braced himself to put the drinks from his tray on their table. He jumped back a step once he'd done it. Deia frowned at the warm beverage presented to _her_, then to the large size of bubbly drink with a little unpleasant smell in front of _her_ Beast.

"We haven't ordered anything..!" Deia said mildly with a little crease between _her_ brows.

_Her_ light mood made the boy visibly relieved, "They're from that gentleman over there..!" he smiled and pointed behind his tray to the other side of the corner.

Deia turned _her_ head, and found the man from last night at the table there, saluting to _her_ with his own cup of beverage. _Her_ face hardened, put _her_ political mask on rather than _her _murderous one. "Tell him that we don't need them, but we appreciate his warm greetings..!"

"Eh ? But…-" the boy sweatdropped, but put the drinks back to his tray obediently.

He went to the man's table, and came back with empty tray. "He apologized that it wasn't to your taste, and wanted to know what you favored better..!" he half whispered politely.

_You know him..?_ Yuy halfturned his armored face to him, finding the man bobbing his head saluting him.

'_He's some man who wanted to buy me last night..!_', Deia faced the boy with _her_ most radiant smile. Somehow the boy shrank back behind his tray, bowed fast and fled.

_That's not sweettalking you're doing..!_ he pointed out.

'_This's sweetkilling, Beast-mine..!_', Deia's shoulders trembled a little with _her_ evilish chuckle. _Her _Beast only snorted soundlessly.

What made anyone think that _she_'s available for buying, anyway?! Just because _she_'s an Archantra native doesn't mean _she_'s on sale, right..? Suddenly _she_ stiffened. Since they entered the villages and small cities _she_'d been staring venom to everyone on their way, with Yuy always in front of _her_ making arrangements for both of them; was that mean….anyone thought… That _she_ looked like _she_ was forcedly taken away by _her_ Beast to be sold to some 'house' that man mentioned..?!

A heavy realization fell on _her_ ferociously, _she_ froze with such a look in _her_ eyes staring down at the table, h_er_ Beast must have felt _her_ extreme change, for he tightened the grasp on _her_ hand under the table.

_What's wrong..?_ No respond. _….Human..?_

_Human…..?_ He called again, tilting his head to _her_ a little. As he noticed the table that's started to shake, and the tablewares started to make clattering sounds and floated for a mere centimeter from the table's surface, he took _her_ hand to stand, made a sign to the Owner to bring their breakfast to their room. At his nod, Yuy pulled his Human upstairs.

He closed the door of their room behind his staggering Human. Let _her_ stand flat to the door panel, and covered _her_ with his body, the black armor head disappeared to his halface-mask, letting his forehead rested on the wooden surface beside _her_s. There was a slight gap between their bodies, Deia felt his presence fill _her_ senses, let _her_self be drowned in his air. After a long moment of silence, _she_ dropped _her_ forehead to his armored shoulder with a dull thunk. Feeling overwhelmed by the vastness of the outerworld, and almost alone.

…_homesick, already…?_ A gentle mindwhisper greeted _her_ once _her_ mind cleared of its burdensome shock.

"…he…" _she_ tried a soundless whisper, '-_they…. Must have thought that you were..._'. _She_ swallowed dryly once. '…_that I_…..'

"You're my Human..!" he whispered slowly.

What those words meant didn't sink at once in _her_ mind. "…I wouldn't trade you even for the world or eternity..!"

_I don't need the previous and I already had the la__t__ter..!_ He smiled submissively. Deia felt his submissiveness in the back of _her_ mind.

"You know…" _she_ whispered low, "..realizing your color in a much bigger picture and what value it has, was somewhat a nice opening to the political meeting we will attend the next days..!"

'_You purposely take me to these places to show me this…?_' _her_ tone was vulnerable that it made him stiffen.

He didn't answer for a while.

_You're my Human. You don't have to mind them…!_

Deia pushed his shoulders with both hands, held them at arm-length. "You…-!!" _She_ cried to his face. "They thought of you like those…._bastards_..!!" _She_ dropped _her_ eyes to the floor. '_kidnapping people,..and selling them…_'

A long pause. "Have you met…_anyone_..like that before ?" _she_ asked silently. If he was 0just curious and wanted to have an Archant like ones he might have seen somewhere, something that he could use as a plaything….

He silenced for a while, staring at _her_ downcasted head. "I've heard about the Archants.." _from some traders_, "-they made it sounded like they were of some Wilds or beasts..", he avoided saying cattle, but _she_ sensed it reflected in _her_ mind. "…and, ..I didn't know that that mystifying land was their homeland… so I didn't go there to lure you out and trade you outhere, …if that is what you're afraid of..!"

-.._giant white trees…. Alien beasts he never saw before in a strange forest… a rural village with mythical environment that captured his mind… a beautiful woman screaming 'beast' pointing his direction as he crouched stunnedly under the shade of a tree… some mythical-looking humans hunting him and hurting him in a wild chase…_.-

_She_ could feel his past-surprise as the memory of that woman screaming frightenedly resurfaced in his mind, that he was only a beast to those 'Archants', and that they were no better than the humans outside..

Deia huffed and pulled his body flat in _her_ tight embrace, stroking his back through his body-fit armor, felt the black-cover reverberating _her_ palms back with silent ringing. As if purring… felt the mask of his face that didn't break by his feelings he kept to himself..

…….. "..my….Beast…!" _she_ whispered eventually. He blinked, and stroked _her_ head with his chin gently.

A nervous knock broke their trance, Deia jumped a step forward with _her_ Beast still in _her_ hands along. _She_ opened the door a little hastily, letting the servant boy put the breakfast on the table with a hawk's eyes on his every move. He gave a little bow politely when he was at the door again going out, but a flash of sharp Prussian eyes made him glance at Yuy's face that wasn't covered by the hood of his cloak. A bright flush burnt the boy's face as he felt disrobed by that sharp stare, and he literally fled out of the room running.

A waft of devilish aura crept in the air behind him after the door closed, the dark air even blocked the sunlight streaming down from the open window behind his Human. "….Hoooo…..!" an even darker voice of _her_ grumbled, a fanged smirk plastered stiffly on _her_ face. _She_ must have seen the servant's face glancing at him.

The Beast dropped his head rubbing his temples, feeling as if an acorn fell on his head. _This pulling-pushing ritual is really tiring…!_

Why was it that some humans acted as if he was undressing them with his stare, anyway…! He snorted through his nose trying to get rid of the traces of that heady smell of the boy's thoughts left in the air.

--

--

the soldier's building where they lived were facing the hillside

owww… noticing the date at the head….it's been THAT long since saru wrote this chapter….haahaa


	18. 18 midnight shade part1

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku****14 nov****, 2007 **

**# 18 Midnight Shade**

_a basket of gold at the end of a wish_

_polished the moon to vanish_

_midnight was the sea of sorrow_

_as clicking door-knob stabbed like arrow_

_taunting me, for there'd be no more tommorow_

_in broken mirror was my glitters of mourn_

(_Volontariste_, EKYU's _Chiaroscuro_)

**Part 1 Virion's Capital**

Royal-pride intact, political mask on, spirit recharged up one level.

Deia fastened _her_ cloak flies on _her_ chest.

"Let's hunt some HUMAN-vultures…!" _she_ said in burning mode-ON.

The Beast sighed through his halfface-armor. _You realize that that's not what we're sent here for, don't you…?_

"I do what I do, my way, Yuy…!" _she_ countered spiritedly.

_Although it's good that you're spirited, but we don't need more enemies, right…?_

"Eggghh….what makes you think I came all the way here to kick some human-butts…?" _she_ groused with acussing eyes at him.

"Aa…" he answered with knowing stare at nothing at particular.

Deia snorted satisfactorily of _her_self. This way no one would see _her_ as some open-bargain merchandise anymore. _She_ was a royal Lady, afteral..! _Let's teach some dorks of humans their places !_

A dark evilish highpitched chuckle heard from upstair made the servant boy dropped his empty tray of shield-to-fend-the-dragon-with onto his feet.

--------------- 

The Palace was made of grey stones, only the lone tower behind it was made of white stones. Its two 'wings' on top of it performed as landmark as well.

"So that's the capital..!" Deia stared condescendingly at the crater-like city with buildings made as its walls climbing up the cliffside like giant round staircase. At the center, a grand palace with the mark of a pair white wings stood solid in the greylight of the cloudy sky. A ray of light penetrated the clouds shone on the lone tower as if spotlighting it.

"Don't you wonder that it always cloudy since we arrived here, or is it this land's natural weather like this..?" Deia tilted _her_ head up to the sky. The Beast riding at _her_ front didn't answer. It's still a half day ride to get to the capital down the mountains, but _she_ thought it really too thickly enchanted this space was…even for _her_!

--------------- 

"Master…!"

The blond head looked up from his desk. "Another royal guest arrived..?". His smooth voice was richly enchanting as well.

"They'll arrive about half day from now, Master."

The blond brows lifted up. "And you report their arrival now, Bland..?"

A bobbing nod.

"That great a presence, hu?" his master smiled knowingly. The ruby eyes under the black hood gleamed unconsciously. "It's alright, you wouldn't have chosen me as your master if I'm that incompetent, right, Bland?"

A blink for answer.

"Who'll be coming?"

"The emissary from Archantra and the escort, Master.."

"Archantra…? We have connection with them?". A slow head tilt for answer. The blond's brows was creased in thinking, a big hand halfconsciously rubbing the chin while he made a humming sound to himself. Those brows arched again as his eyes noticed the ruby eyes of his servant's staring his figure without blinking. His tilting head made the black hood drooped to the side, exposing one of those bizarrely ruby gems that were staring at him with an unconcealed lust gleaming its color to sparkle radiantly.

A knowing halfsmirk-halfsmile, "….I look good in red, Bland?" he purred slowly, taking off the white glove from his hand. His servant gulped once reflexively, answered half dreamily with a sound close to a dove's purring sound. "Good enough to eat..?". A slow dreamy nod. The blond chuckled breathily at his openness, knowing his servant was a little out of this plane. That jerked the said servant to his consciousness, though. Widening his ruby eyes, he bowed stiffly with shame, more than fear, to his smiling master.

Noting a burning color reddened the red skin more from its usual color under the black hood, the blond laughed openly, being a little evil by feeling grateful that it made his servant squirmed in his bowing pose.

Finished loosening the sleeve of his red jacket's arm, he indicated his servant to approach him. A knowing smile bloomed on his handsome face. The black hood squirmed shyly, but complied to his own needs, closed the distance in a few light strides, dropped to his knees in front of his sitting master, and opened his mouth.

Sometime later, a knock on the doors broke the blond's trance. He answered with a dazed voice. A Palace Counselor in white robe identical to what he used to wear in the White-tower came in, he frowned in distaste openly at the faint sucking sound heard from the new (wasn't it supposed to be rightful?) Lord's desk, noticing a blur of black kneeling down with the hooded head bent down at The Lord's lap(1) that could be seen through the transparent red-crystal desk.

"Shire,… we need you to see to some things", the counselor's flat voice said smoothly. The blond lord nodded once, made a light flicking gesture with his shoulder to indicate his servant to stop at what he's doing.

The black hood stiffened at once, prostrating immediately on the side of his Master's way. Then following him close behind, head bowed in submissiveness, hands at his front. The counselor waited The Lord to pass at the door, his eyes burnt with revulsion at the black hooded figure as they passed him, then followed at some distance behind them.

"You should stare back if anyone stares you like that, Bland..!" a very silent whisper, knowing his servant's ears could hear it clearly.

'_I have no right, Master_..' an answer in his head.

A snort, "Nonsense..! You're mine. You're higher than them if I say so !"

'_I wish to be insignificant as usual, Master..!_'

"Yeah…suit yourself..!" a childish retort. A happy smile answered it under the black hood. He wished to be significant to his Master only.

--------------- 

"Nee,…Pru.. What is that ?"

A whisper of wonder intrigued him enough to ignore the land's strange vibes that were bothering his senses more and more to the phase of unignorable. "What..?". Listening to his own voice made him felt better somehow.

"That…blue line of….water?" his Human pointed to the farscape beyond the mountain tops. So his Human could see that, he's quite amazed at _her_ farsight, Archantra just wasn't large enough to use it to the max.

"Sea…"

"Oohh, beach..!" _her_ voice heightened one notch by sudden excitement.

"Seashore…You'd like to go there ?"

"We could go there !"

"If you wish, we could go sightseeing after the trip's over.."

"I'd like to, please !" Deia bobbed _her_ head with a vibrant smile. "No, wait..! You okay with salt water ?"

The Beast snorted silently, he was going to point it out that it was the salt that was produced in his Human's Land that burnt his sensoric nerves, but thought again that he didn't want to spoil his Human's excitement by reminding _her_ about the Land.

"I'll take you to the blackshore, after this. That's my favorite place on the surfacescape awhile back..!"

"Oh,…okay.." _she_ sounded like a little disappointed to stranger's ears, but he knew that _she_ was only trying to reign in _her_ excitement, careful as to not unconsciously intrude his repressed memory he didn't relate to _her_ mind.

That brought a soft smile to his lips. 

--------------- 

"I wonder if I could have something to buy in this boring country…!" a young monarch who looked no older than 17 years old said uncaringly of his surrounding. A younger lady with long blond hair standing in front of him kicked his shin with her stiletto heel under the cover of her long black dress, other than that she showed no sign of being cared of the surroundings either. The blackhaired youth grimaced a little then blew a raspberry to her, despite the fact that he was the older one between them.

The neat lines of white-robed counselors at either side of the court corridor in front of them didn't show any sign of life, just stood still like boring statues. The young monarch gave a loud che, and traveled his eyes at the fine engraving on the walls around them. They were battered by time but still showed their pride, the epic engraved was of the country's ancestors and their battles against magnificent beasts. A small figure carved on one of the corners of the gate's frame caught his eyes, an angel-like figure with goat-like horns adorning its head. It was naked, but the image of winds around it was made as its cover and glory. The many wings engravings were floated behind its humanoid back, while its body carved as if it were made as a part of the winds. Or was it the other way around..?

'…_is that one of the ancestors or one of the beasts !_' he thought half sarcastically to himself, '_If they're still around I want to buy one of that kind…!_'. Playing with his stuck out tongue on his lips. Another stiletto kick made him yelp a little when he bit it by the surprise. 

At the exact time, the lines of counselors gave an instant salutation by slapping their right hands to their chests and kept them at the side of their heads opened as if ready to make a vow. Felt mocked by the unintentionally perfect timing, he gave a beast-growl at the corridor way. At the end of the long hallway the double doors were opened and the blond young Lord walked to their direction.

"I know…!" he whispered fast as he instinctively felt the stiletto heel was raised targeting to his always abused shin, and rearranged his disposition.

The blond girl gave a slow curtsey to the older Lord and kept her slight bow, waiting for the counselor who was following behind him to introduce their names formally.

"Lord Milliard Peacecraft of Virion's."

"Lady Dorothy Catalonia and Master Pluie Calyxas Eyrändisthé IX..!" heard the formal voice of the counselor, without emotion, just like what a wind up doll supposed to sound like.

A small part of the things the Lord didn't like about this cold-aired palace. 

The Lord gave a formal bow and the blond girl lifted her face again. The blackhaired youth only blinked once; '…._JUST a "Peacecraft" and nothing else..? What a short title for a pure-blooded !_'

A stiletto-heel kick made him drop his drifting stare down, but he didn't showed anything else on his face. The Lord smiled at them, while the Lady smiled back with glints in her eyes.

"The representatives written in the acceptance letter that had been delivered to you were unable to come, so we apologies personally for the changes in our members. This is the letter of introduction from our King that states our names as the substitutes…, Lord Peacecraft." A servant presented a scroll on a silver tray at her cue, her voice was clear and spoke with the royal confidence radiating her face, but the way she emphasized the Lord's name sounded a little strange.

His smile didn't falter, "Please, just call me Zechs Marquis, Lady Catalonia. Milliard Peacecraft sounded too formal for my ears..!". He shifted his eyes to the preoccupied monarch behind her, comprehending that the one with the higher position between them was actually him, and she was just acting as his formal spokesperson. Eyränd was a kingdom of slaughter for unworthy heirs of its royal families, they would even openly butcher each other's descendants just for a greater chance for the throne of the vast land, which probably something that had made the changes in their representative members. So, the royal families would get them escorts to babysit them, if you'd rather think of it like that.

At what he said, the counselor who introduced them flicked his head to the Lord the tiniest bit, but the gesture didn't escape the girl's hawk eyes. Using the surname of the relative who took the throne from him, as a mock at his own dignitaries who didn't support him ? Of course the country's background was not in the blinds for her. She smiled wider at this rightful-Lord's boldness, or just plain childishness…?

"Milord, please call me Dorothy..!"

"Very well, Lady Dorothy, I as the Lord of Virion, accepted the letter of introduction from your King and both of you as our honoured guests." He didn't check the scrolled letter, and just indicated his servant to bring the letter inside, and pleased them into the inner palace, "…, Master Eyrändisthé !"

The blackhaired youth, who acted like a child in all the likelyhood, snapped from his contemplation of the ceiling's engravings with a straight face. "Pluie..! I hate that long name !" he replied cheekily.

A soft shuffling sound of fabric, "Aw..! Stop kicking that shin, Dorothy, aim the other one, would you..!" he groused openly.

Dorothy's political smile didn't falter on her face, she flapped open her black lace fan to cover her smile. A louder shuffling sound, a louder yelp. Her eyes narrowed to slits by her hidden smile behind the semitransparent fan. The Lord Marquis caught her cue and politely ignored the limping blackhaired youth behind her. It's for his sakes, anyway, because he could really get killed by his own family if he ever go home to Eyränd with a report that he'd messed this opportunity for them. Who knew about the supposed representatives' well-being, on that fact.

Well, what could he say…every family had one or two skeletons in their closets; of course, that said his closet also had quite a number of them.

A furtive smile bloomed under the cover of the only black-robe's hood at the Lord's thought; he sure could count the number to the exact list, the smile said wordlessly.

--------------- 

"Do you really think I'm _really_ presentable just like this..?" Deia asked while _she_ smoothened _her_ changed dress.

"Yes. Don't worry about your looks too much. You're fine..!" Yuy said while he tied the ribbon of his Human's formal white cloak at her collar. A pair of large violet eyes stared his face widely. So _she_ didn't really convinced. "….what more ?" the Beast asked after a long pause.

"My looks are fine…?" _she_ asked flatly.

………….. "…you're beautiful !" he answered quietly, then turned his back to _her_, either by embarrassment or just impassiveness.

But that was more than enough to boost Deia's pride to the level of physically glowing. _She_ grabbed his left arm and held it flat to _her_ body like a deary pet, while _she_ smiled to his face with utter happiness. They stared each other like that for a few long breaths. Breaths without the Air…a sudden ache pricked _her_ heart at that thought, _she_ really didn't want to confine him in _her_ Land anymore after this. But _she_ couldn't say it outloud, or even thought about it. Because what pained _her_ pained him more, so _she_ kept it behind _her_ dark shroud in _her_ heart. Just glow brightly like _she_ used to, because every light kept a dark shadow behind it. "….anything else..?"

The stoic voice startled _her_ a little. Deia blinked and sported a little flush on _her_ cheeks, then blinked it off again. Gentle fingers lifted to touch his firm chin, a sheet of blackness sought _her_ fingertips like a liquid wave, instantly covered his skin as if intentionally intercepting their physical contact. At _her_ astonished wide stare, the liquid blackness eagerly formed the known structure to the front of his face. When the armor head formed completely, it purred with a silent ringing, enthralled at the fact that Deia liked IT, not only the Beast IT covered.

Deia giggled a little, "Cool…!", then occupied _her_self picking small stones at the edge of the mountain spring.

The Beast stared _her_ figure under the cover of the black armor-head. _She_ didn't even bother to try to figure out what the IT was to him; of what he'd given up to IT in exchange for the shell covering his head. He guessed he didn't really wanted his Human to think about IT, about the bond between him and the thing inside his chest.

_Human will figure it out someday… hopefully in a good way_..

"Look ! Souvenirs for Lyea and the others..!" Deia lifted several small stones in _her_ hand for him to see, while _her_ other hand loosely holding _her_ dress so it wouldn't sweep the dirt ground.

He smiled, since when did his Human have the knack for collecting stones as souvenirs..? May be his habit rubbed off on _her_ a little..

--------------- 

The sky lit up with a shade of bright orange and a sheen of red hues and a gradation of purple to the end of the skyline. A black robed figure stood motionless on a small balcony on the white tower facing the cityscape lied under the hill of palace at the center of the crater-like city. A pair of ruby eyes glinted at the warsteed approaching the palace's outer gate on the arch road that curved up from the city level to the palace level. The warsteed walked leisurely along the slope climb, every now and then the elongated shadows of the tall stone pillars that lined up at some interval at either sides of the arch road casted one by one upon the impressive black horse and the two riders on its back, as if counting the shortened distance to the grand gate.

A long sharp cry of a great hawk in the sky heard like a toll. Either it was a welcoming or a danger warning.

The black robe jumped out the balcony's halfrounded rail, floated like a feather carried by the wind to the roof of lower structures supporting the tower. As the trumpet song of notification of someone important approaching the palace sounded, it jumped down and floated to land on one of the pointed pillars at the side of the arch road behind the warsteed.

Silent sounds of flapping wings attracted Deia's eyes to stray up sweeping the colorful dusk sky, _her_ stare landed on a black figure stood motionless staring them just as the great white bird landed on the figure's shoulder. The robe was fluttering in the winds, it shaped the hidden form of the wearer as the black cloth waved. Even though it looked humanoid, a stray thought surfaced Deia's mind.

'……_Crow-Fairs_…' _she_ stared the figure as the great hawk gave a highpitched cry again.

_You're saying something..?_

"What..?" Deia started and snapped _her_ eyes at _her_ Beast, when _she_ looked behind again, the black robed figure was already gone. A lonely feeling crept into _her_ heart after that although _she_ didn't know what had caused it, so _she_ pushed it down to the just-forget-it list and look forward as the grand gate opened for them to enter.

--------------- 

A relax smile spread on Pluie's face, "Dorothy… I want that Archant that's entering the gate right now..!" he said with eyes closed, lying on his back on his bed with hands spread out at either sides of his body like a crucified butterfly.

Dorothy sideglanced at him from the dresser at the corner of the large room. "You're not here to collect things to your liking, Master Pluie..!", she slid the drawer close after finding nothing suspicious in it.

"Mm-hmm…but Lluvia said he wanted the beasts, instead..!" Pluie answered with a delight tone.

"Lord Lluvia is nowhere to collect things for himself..!" Dorothy said while nonchalantly inspecting the room.

A pleasant chuckle, "But Lluvia said he'd take this country for himself..!"

Dorothy slapped his dangling feet on the edge of bed. "You shouldn't speak about Lord Lluvia like that, Master Pluie. He's not here right now, he'd be very angry if you're gossiping about him behind his back, isn't that right ?", she knew that took the stings out of the facts of what her master had said; it's enough that only she and her master who knew it was indeed a fact, in case the palace's walls were listening.

The black eyelashes fluttered open slowly, his lush green eyes were unfocused like daydreaming, but his lips lost its relax smile in an instant. His face changed to a slack mask, his fingers twitched unconsciously as if feeling a surge of electricity, then stilled. His eyes focused on the bed canopy above his face, but his eyes could see the engravings on the grey ceiling above it.

"…But Lluvia said….he wanted…" his voice trailed off, he blinked once, focusing his eyes on the fabric of the dark red canopy that were crimped at the four corners, rather than the engravings on the ceiling. His eyelids drooped as his eyes distanced again ignoring Dorothy's figure looming at the end of his sight.

"…Lluvia wants everything….!" he said quietly as if to himself. After that, seeing that her master was ignoring the rest of the world and herself, Dorothy left him to his daydreaming alone. She went to the lounge adjoining their rooms and read some book to kill time.

--------------- 

Silent gasps heard like a thick veil shrouding _her_ senses as they entered the inner vicinity of the Palace court. There were three arch roads connecting the Palace and the city, and they took the one at the back of the Palace. Deia didn't know whether _her_ Beast had picked it intentionally or not, but the white tower's shadow hid them from the smiling white moon _she_ could feel lurking up there in the darkened sky.

Inside the gate was like another city built in the hill's walls, much to Deia's amazement. It seemed like this part of the Palace was for the higher-ups and royal patrons to live. Suddenly _she_ could feel a wave of jealousy and other negative feelings crept up from the commoners city down there that seemingly had piled up for how many long ages, _she_ didn't really eager to find out.

"…Rich….!" _she_ whispered as _she_ noticed the excessive buildings and decorations along the stone road. Empty stares and frightened gasps came from the people wandering on the sides of the road, more likely they were directed at the royal escorts that had been following them since they entered the gate, not at _her_ appearance or _her_ Beast's, nor their beast-ride.

'…_the rich's servants or.. slaves….!_' Deia thought to _her_self as _she_ observed their unkempt appearances as an irony to their superfluous surroundings. _She_ sideglanced from under _her_ veil to the royal escorts that were riding behind.

'_Seems like the higher-ups and the patrons are not very respected for their virtues, around here…!_'

The blond young Lord was already waiting to welcome them at the Palace's inner gate, that said meant they already passed through a couple of gates before they arrived at this one gate. A means of self protection from possible danger from the city, _she_ thought, considering what _she_ saw down there.

The Lord's eyes stared them unblinkingly as Yuy helped _her_ get down from the high back of the warsteed by _her_ unbelievably white hand, the transparent long veil fluttered in the wind half covering _her_ face. A strong presence from somewhere behind the Lord's back made Deia turned _her_ face to him, as Yuy stood stoically behind _her_.

A royal escort presented the scrolled letter of introduction to the Lord. The counselor at his side introduced them with a formal voice.

"Lord Milliard Peacecraft of Virion's."

"Lady Deia-Saraleighsthē Luna(2) of Archantra and Master Yuy."

The Virion's Lord smiled warmly to _her_, he's such a beautiful virile Lord; the sarcastic pun made _her_ inner-self laughed madly inside, while in the outside Deia managed a shy smile of a little girl with angelic backgrounds. _She_ swore _she_ heard _her_ Beast and Odin's beast, that was walked by a shivering stable boy to the royal stable, snorted at _her_ act.

"Welcome to Virion, Lady Luna..(?)" the Lord's smooth voice said while he kissed _her_ hand.

Deia gave a slow curtsey, still with _her_ shy smile. "Please call me Deia, Lord Peacecraft.."

"Zechs Marquis. Please, call me Zechs..!" his smile felt somewhat lavishly nice.

Deia gave a small shy bow, "Lord…Marquis..!"

At that the blond Lord chuckled pleasantly, trying to smoothen the sharp air coming from _her_ full-black armored escort behind _her_. Deia blinked, feeling the same sharp tension coming from behind the virile Lord from none other than the black robed 'Crow-Fairs'. _She_ smiled wider with full-laugh eyes.

"Please excuse my escort. He's a little too possessive of my well-being..!"

Zechs gave the same smile too. "My servant seemed a little too rivalrous, for that reasoning. I apologies…"

"Yuy…!" Deia called out softly to _her_ possessive Beast of escort to give the Lord a greeting, that hopefully wouldn't charge up the fueled situation more than it already was. The black armored Beast moved forward silently and gave the Lord a slow stiff bow from the waist. But apparently he was standing a little too precisely just between his Lady and the smiling Lord.

"This is Bland..!" the smiling Lord said while taking a step back because his black robed servant rushed in between him and the bowing smiling-guest's escort to give the same bow.

A heavy pause downed accompanied with a thick possessiveness cloud and a strong rivalrous currents charging the air. Deia's smile stiffened on _her_ face; impressively, the Lord's smile didn't falter a bit on his face.

Now, it's just plain…childish ! The counselor who introduced them cleared his throat. Or just beasts' territorial instincts, he thought as he inspected the escort in black armor in front of the fairish girl in white.

The welcoming procession continued again after the Lord pleased them into his Palace, and Deia took his invitation politely, and they both initiatively kept the distance not less than two meters away between them. That was an odd distance to keep the polite conversation going on, but was enough (barely) to keep their black 'tails' from convoluting with each other. 

……_this's a good start..!_ Deia sighed in _her_ mind. 

Then _she_ could swear _she_ heard the black warsteed gave a long highpitched neigh from the stable direction.

--------------- 

The ball will be held at tomorrow evening, the guests were pleased to take their time in the Palace until then, but they're politely not allowed to go down to the city. Viricidia was more look like a military city where they preparing things for wars, in Deia's opinion. The landscape and surroundings already supported the necessities needed for it.

"…what a giant pudding you could make…!" Deia whispered to _her_self while looking out of the window, with elbows rested on the window ledge supporting _her_ chin.

"…you're saying something ?" _her_ Beast whispered from somewhere behind _her_ in the room. "You asked me that before..!" _she_ answered to _her_self still whispering. Now that _she_ thought of it, _she_ didn't feel the mind-link between them since they entered this city.

"Yuy, is something wrong…?" Deia turned _her_ head a little, one of _her_ hand left _her_ chin to rest on the window ledge.

"…giant pudding ?" the muzzle of the armor-head turned to _her_, the left eye of the slanted fake-eyes of black gemstone was gleaming at its forehead. It reminded Deia of a story from _her_ childhood of a chimera-prince who imprisoned the moon in his left eye because he fell in love with the sky…

The Beast knew his Human had _her_ thought strayed somewhere far again, so he walked to the window and stood closely behind _her_ slim figure, put both hands at either sides of _her_ on the window ledge and looked out the window to the cityscape laid out around them.

"…you're right, this city's basic design resembled a pudding-pan..!" he whispered.

Deia rested _her_ back to his chest. "Isn't it..!" _she_ smiled happily, bumping _her_ head to his armored shoulder softly and rested it there.

'…_ne, Yuy…_' _she_ thought after a moment's pause, '…._why do you think the moon hated me ?_'

_You really think that..?_ The Beast rubbed his black-covered chin to the side of _her_ head.

'_I felt that firsthand, didn't I…?_' Deia closed _her_ eyes, remembering what a torturing feeling the moon's light felt was when it crashed upon _her_ the first time. The unforgiving cold surge of hatred and pains clawing _her_ from the inside…. _She_ thought again, and blinked. Or perhaps, _she_ was the one who hated the moon…?

At the exact moment, the wind blew the layer of clouds to reveal a smiling white moon in the black night sky. The human in white and the beast in black looked up at it in silence.

They just stared, and filling each other's senses with the other's presence. A little uncomfortable feeling swirled in the depth of his Human's mind, the Beast felt it perfectly.

_What does it feel like now..?_

Deia silenced for sometime, staring at the crescent white moon, wondering what the chimera-prince thought of the round shining object when he saw it. '…._like.. it's jealous of you somehow…!_'

_Jealous of me…?_

'_Like it would take you away from me..!_' a pause, '…._but not this moon_..'

'…_it's supposed to be…. a big round moon..that could swallow you whole….!_' Deia thought half awarely, _her_ mind strayed to something _her_ _self _saw hidden deep in _her_ mind. And because _she_ was too deep in it, _she_ didn't aware of the momentary shiver that ran up _her_ Beast's body despite the fact that _she_ was resting _her_ back on his front. He knew it, and secretly felt grateful for it. Rearranged his emotions and minds in no time.

"What was that…?" Deia said suddenly with _her_ usual light tone, tilting _her_ head back to see his hidden face.

"What ?" _her_ Beast asked.

"I thought you said something !" 

He shook his head a little, _she_ creased _her_ brows a little. "Say,…you're not going to change into something different in fullmoon, are you, Yuy ?"

_What got that question out…?_ "Why ?" he whispered.

"Umm… I don't know..!" Deia picked his left hand and played with his fingers with both _her_ hands. "…'heard some things about the outsiders-…", _she_ meant outsider beasts, he grasped it. "And perhaps…well, since we're out here….I thought may be…" _she_ faltered.

"You want me to change into something else…?"

"I'm just curious…..!" Deia stared his face accusingly from the end of _her_ eye, in the back of his mind, he could feel the negation in _her_ mind.

He tilted his head to the side a little. "…aa..", he whispered as if to himself. That didn't answer _her_ in any way, but _she_ thought _she_ might be better off not probing him too much, the outside world must had given him too much to count one by one. _She_ just hoped that he had enough happiness to count for himself. 

--------------- 

The night was at its darkest moment. When the Windpipe's twelfth-tune of the Palace's time-tower sounded like a soft hum of a lullaby to resonance through the whole city by its round walls, a black shadow crept up on the red velvet bed soundlessly, a white smirk bloomed mimicking the smiling white moon in the black night sky outside, showing its long sharp fangs. It crouched above the bed's occupant swiftly like a beast claiming its prey, careful as to not touch the sleeping human to wake. 

The shadow bent low to the human's face, breathing in the scent and the significant presence it sensed since they met this morning when they arrived. It tilted its face to the human's ear, enjoying the patience-game since it knew that the human was already awake since it entered the bedroom.

"…my name is Lluvia…." the shadow purred low, "Remember that name..!"

The human's eyes opened calmly, feeling the sudden jerk of the shadow's move who arched its back going to impale a dull-pointed object to the human's chest with its right hand.

A soft breeze..

A wider leer watching the object's plunge towards the breathing chest. Then suddenly a blast hit its body so powerful it flung the shadow to the far wall of the spacious bedroom.

After a loud sound of impact heard, the room lit up by itself, revealing a pair of gleaming ruby eyes staring condescendingly to the black heap on the floor by the far wall. The ruby eyes gleamed brighter for a second, a stronger breeze unleashed from around the black robed figure stood motionless next to the bed, coiling around the black heap and strangling its neck to lift it off the floor, crushing its body to the already broken wall. A flash of satisfaction glinted in the ruby eyes watching the intruder's feet kicked and jolted in the air, both hands tried vainly to pry the solid air from lynching him.

"…it's enough, put him down, Bland..!" a smooth calm voice said from the bed. The ruby eyes sideglanced at the owner and focused on the intruder again, but complied by letting his neck go.

The youth's body hit the floor in a pile, poorly coughing and chocking, trying to regain his breath. The solid air still swirling around his figure, caging him. When his coughing subsided and changed to hard wheezing, small hick ups followed. And short utterance and whimpers of fright heard every now and then, but somehow they sounded dissociated from the reality at present.

Zechs creased his brows a little watching Pluie's frightened figure on the floor that was curled on itself. No, terrified was more like it, but he wasn't terrified of them. As his feverish utterance started to sound more and more louder bordering to broken cries, Zechs got down from the bed. The young monarch was embracing his head with both hands, or seemed like he was trying to cover his ears from something he kept hearing.

The blond Lord eventually felt sorry for his miserable guest, and tried to calm him down. "Master -…"

Suddenly the bedroom double doors flung open and a flash of yellow and black jumped on Pluie's body. Bland was calling out his wind, extremely aware that his cage of swirling air had instantly dissipated once Dorothy's body penetrated it, but his Master's hand stopped him from blasting it to the two crouching bodies on the floor.

"Master Pluie..!" Dorothy called him but he was too out of it, so she shook him by the shoulder hard. "Master Pluie !" and that brought his feverish eyes to snap at hers. He looked stunned at first, like a frozen statue, he even stopped breathing. But suddenly as he recognized her to some extent, he started to shake again, rambling brokenly and hugged her by the waist like a lifeline. Dorothy silenced and just hugged his shuddering body by his shoulders and head as she fell sitting on the carpeted floor.

Zechs managed to dechiper some of his broken words, they were consisted mostly of 'don't', 'help', 'nomore', and 'Lluvia'. That name was the most frequently repeated.

The blond girl seemed aware from the start about their presence. Well, of course..she wouldn't barge in into a Lord's bedroom in the middle of the night and not expected the Lord's alertness on her. What's more, a neighbour Lord's bedroom, and in the middle of latent warfare, to add to the fact.

She turned her head a little from her Master's body, and gave a low bow to the Lord's direction. She waited for a long pause before started to speak, all the while keeping her eyes to the floor. "Milord..!" she began.

"This is inexcusable…"

A few long breaths, and she got no respond, only two pairs of eyes stared them fixedly on the floor. One pairs stared calmly but authoritatively, another pair of ruby eyes were staring with ardent devotion and possessiveness bordering to anger.

"But..?" the Lord seemed to feel some sympathy for the girl, and decided that he didn't really wanted to make it worse for her.

Dorothy waited a heartbeat before she lifted her face to the standing Lord halfway across the room. "…but we did not come here to make enemies with you right now..!" she said with confidence burning in her straight staring eyes.

"…right now..?" Zechs repeated. The blond girl's steadfastness didn't disappoint the Lord as she stared his eyes with unwavering determination. He smiled, "I like that term… 'as for now' ?"

His servant's gleaming eyes sideglanced at him for a moment, asking what his Master wanted for him to do to the intruders, but finding that he had a pleasant smile on his face instead.

"This is still in the middle of the night, Lady Dorothy. And it seemed that Master Pluie needs some rest..?"

Dorothy blinked.

"Good night, Lady Dorothy..!"

Dorothy blinked again, finding the Lord's smile was a genuine smile. She stunned for a moment, but Pluie's whimpers made her alert again. She bowed fast to the smiling Lord, and dragged Pluie's taller body to his feet.

"Tell Lluvia I'll remember his name..!" Zechs added once they were about to exit the bedroom. Dorothy stopped for a second and then continued dragging Pluie out.

"Oh, and please unfreeze my guards at the doors..!" Zechs called out.

A flat "As you wish, Milord.." answered him before the doors to his chamber being shut. At that Zechs chuckled to himself. Too bad that she was a girl, Eyränd was a country which seemed not very respectful of the idea of a leading female.

"Master, he could really killed you just now…!" Bland's voice sounded uncharacteristically impatient.

"If he wanted to really kill me, he wouldn't wake me up first, Bland..!" his Master said lightly.

"But Eyränd's..-!"

"I'm aware of Eyränd's talents to freeze the time to some extent. And that even though he was going to use a napkin to stab me…" his eyes stared the roll of cloth fell on his bed. "…since it was a substance frozen in time, it could penetrate even the hardest other substance in its state. Which means I'd be dead if I got stabbed by that thing…!" his light voice flattened a little by the end of his words.

"But they're not our enemies for now, Bland..!" he stared his servant in the eyes. The gleaming in his ruby eyes softened, and he casted his stare down. "Yes, Master.." was his soft reply. Zechs smiled gently to him, his servant was still being a little overprotective since he reported the other beast's arrival this morning, half a day before they physically arrived at the city. The fact that he did search for his presence as his Master only because he felt the other's presence had spoke a lot of his anxiety….of apparently some territorial-thing issue…!

Zechs left him to his contemplation alone, and he sat on his bed with a mind of his own.

'…_.now I'm wide awake. What should I do…?_' 

--------------- 

"I really don't think this is a good idea, Master….even though it doesn't matter what I think, Master..!" Bland said with a light crease between his white-fur of brows.

His Master only answered with a light chuckle at those sentences, how his servant's naiveté really entertained him at times. "Master, you're not a child anymore…!" that almost sounded like a whine it made Zechs smirked to himself.

"You don't have to accompany me, Bland. I'm only visiting my guest, see if they need something..!"

"But you're using the Palace's secret passage to get into the guest's room, Master !" Bland pointed it out with almost a pout on his lips. That only fueled his Master's chuckle into laugh.

"Don't follow me, Bland. I promise I'll behave myself..! Go and watch for me from the outside !"

Bland didn't say anything else, but his pout got more visible. A soft breeze marked his leave from the one-person wide passage between the Palace's walls.

A structure in the wall of the fireplace's frame slid open like opened teeth for the Lord to pass. He scanned the dim room first before he stepped out of the wall's passage. Didn't spare a glance at the closing wall behind him, he walked slowly to the bed. A little nervous feeling crept up his heart but it made him more excited.

The wind blew the shrouding clouds for the smiling moon to lit the room a little. The shadow of the tall window frames fell on the pristine bed, and his excitement fell down the city's drains.

"Yuy, are you-…?"

A tentative voice from the door to the adjoining lounge heard suddenly but stopped halfsentence.

The Lord turned in surprise and finding a stunned Deia holding a lit chandelier in _her _left hand. _Her_ silvery-purple hair halfdone in loose braid with long wavy locks fell down _her_ white longdress and gave some color to it. _Her_ pashmina veiled _her_ head to cover _her_ shoulders, gathered at _her_ elbows, and brushed the floor at its tasseled ends. Zechs blinked his eyes, adjusting his mind. _She_ looked more like a painting than a person.

"Milord..?"

"He's not here..!" Zechs said with a smile, giving an impression that it was normal in all the likelyhood for him to be in one of his guests' bedroom in the middle of the night in his sleeping robe with no one else besides himself.

Deia blinked. "Apparently not..!" _she_ stared the still made bed.

Silence fell awkwardly after that. They both gave tentative smiles in turns and gestured that each of them would go back to where they came from. It nudged Deia's thought a little that the Lord pointed to the fireplace for himself, but _she_ brushed it off thinking that he might be pointing to the direction of his room. They exchanged awkward small bows, and Deia closed the lounge door.

_She_ waited a few heartbeats behind the double doors before _her_ mind told _her_ that _she_ should go back to _her_ Beast's room, pointed out to _her_ that it was odd enough for a host to be surreptitiously visiting his guest's room like that. Deia smoothened _her_ creased brows before knocking the door and opened it again, only to find him gone from the dim room. _She_ creased _her_ brows again deeper from the previous, and went back to _her_ bed, blew the candles and stared the bed canopy with a pout.

"I can't sleep..!"

In the secret passage Zechs walked slowly with a crease between his brows, too. "May be he's a nocturnal…!" he said to himself, "…don't you think, Bland ?" it didn't come to his mind that he might be a spy lurking in his Palace somewhere. A soft breeze behind him reported his servant's arrival tailing him soundlessly.

Bland didn't answer his question, not that it needed answer, anyway. So his Master interested in a new beast… his mind echoed endlessly, halve of his consciousness was aware of his Master's words talking about that other beast, but he couldn't really put them inside his brain.

"..Where is he now, could you sense his presence ?" Zechs stared him pass his shoulder. The ruby eyes under the black robe drooped in indifference, but gleamed for a short second, finding a trace of blank spot in the Palace-map in his senses. That must be him, other beast's signature that was intentionally hidden from his territorial-map.

"On her bed, Master…"

Zechs stopped short, turned his head to him for several seconds, then continued his walk a little faster than before. "….Really ?"

"But she seemed like she was searching for him, though…!"

"You're not a curious boy anymore, Master….!" Bland reminded him with a quiet voice, another part of his mind pointed out to himself that his Master lost his childhood fairly because he was a failure in doing his duty of protecting him. Letting him imprisoned in the White-tower for more than a decade….

Suddenly a pair of strong hands grabbed his smaller body and lifted it flat to a solid chest. "I'm not a curious boy anymore, but I'm still curious..!" Zechs pointed openly staring straight to his slanted ruby eyes. He dropped his black robed charge brusquely to his own feet, and turned sharply leaving him standing stunnedly at his sudden act.

His mind blanked….

"I like you like this more, Bland..!"

The far voice sounded farther in his ears. His feet felt rooted to the stone ground.

"….Master..?"

"You could criticize me now..!"

That jolted his body to a run, "Are you angry at me, Master..!"

Zechs laughed, "I said I like you like this. Pay more attention to my words, Bland..!"

"Apologies, Master, but I'm jealous..!"

"I know, don't make it a bad feeling, alright ?" he smiled. His servant was more childish than himself, he liked his naiveté more than anything else. One of the thing he'd lived in the exile for, so that his naiveté wouldn't be corrupted by the Palace's life, that's why he was mad when he reported the Marquises' conditions back then, suspected that it was his doing.

"….Master…" a tentative voice sounded like a quiet whine, "Jealous don't feel good…!"

Zechs laughed again, more to himself, feeling instinctively the presence of a black robed hand gripping his sleeping robe from behind, and it made him feel good that someone thought of his existence was vitally needed.

…But may be he didn't have to specify where 'on her bed' meant, Bland thought to himself quietly.

--------------- 

The morning came peacefully with the sound of the sixth-tune of the Windpipe hummed marking the dawn. Deia's creased brows were already got more deeper than last night, _her_ mind thought about the dawn that was came too soon in _her_ opinion, while _her_ senses told _her_ that the Lady's-dawn displays were usually started from around five in _her_ Land. So that meant that 'this' dawn came too late, mocked _the other_'s mind.

"….shut up..!" _she_ whispered on _her_ bed, still staring at _her_ bed canopy with reddened eyes. _She_ didn't manage to get even a little sleep the whole night.

-…_you shouldn't be this angry about him not worshiping you on the first pedestal anymore, this is his world…not yours..!_- whispered _another-mind_ in _her_ head.

Deia growled at it and tried to ignore. But the more _she_ tried, the voice got more louder and bolder at the fact that _she_ couldn't ignore it.

-…_or may beeee…._- it began, -.._the MOON stole him last night..!_-

Deia's face froze sensing the voice's leer in _her_ head. _She_ sat up joltingly, tossing the velvet blanket to _her_ feet on the bed. And just stared at nothing, instinctively knew that the more _she_ tried to focuse _her_ mind at something, the more the _other-mind_ would get its freedom to induce _her_s.

Soft knocks sounded at the doors, and then heard the polite voice of the head-maid asking for entrance. A chamberlain-counselor in yet another white robe standing stoically in front of the doorway of _her _bedroom, as to not cross _her_ privacy while the maids made the morning preparations. Seeing that _she_ did not bring _her_ own personal maid with _her_, the head-maid politely introduce an appointed young maid to be _her_ personal maid while _she_ stayed in the Palace. Deia accepted the hospitality politely and let the girl provide _her_ necessities. After _she_ was ready, the chamberlain-counselor read _her_ the agenda of the day, which was the morning assembly for all the guests after breakfast to get everyone introduced properly. That's the only important program for that day, aside for the ball in the evening.

After that they left _her_ with the breakfast in _her_ chamber. Sensing the smell and activities in the other room too, _she_ expected they done the same thing with _her_ Beast's room despite his unknown whereabout. _She_ guessed _she_ couldn't ask to have breakfast together with him since he's not around, so _she_ ate it in silence while the maid standing at _her_ side in case _she_ ask for anything.

Deia dismissed her after _she_ finished, feeling a little frustrated more and more with each passing time as _she_ looked out the window. A blackgloved hand touched _her_ pashmina tentatively from behind. That snapped _her_ to turn around and faced the missing Beast.

"Where were you…!" Deia almost barked, already recognized his presence once _she_ felt the familiar touch on _her_ personal space.

The Beast didn't say a word, or even thought of anything. Deia scowled at the blankness in their link, _she_ reached out _her_ hands to cup the armor-headed face, and impulsively covered his mouth with _her_s the moment the blackthing left his face bare. They drowned in each other's familiarity for some long moments, reconnecting the loose ends of their links, and filling themselves with each other's presence. _She_ was finished with her share when _she_ felt his mind in the back of _her_ mind again, but let him breathe in _her_ presence more than the usual share.

Deia pulled _her_ face back, but still cupping his face with _her_ hands. _Her_ violet eyes had brighter sheen after that, but the crease between _her_ brows was still visible.

'…_I told you not to get drunk by this land's vibes, right…!_' _she_ thought to him.

He flattened his lips together but said nothing. His face was an impassive mask, but _she_ could feel his possessiveness in the back of _her_ mind. So _she_ decided not to get worried about them, and sighed all of it out into the air. "Really, I feel like I could never understand you sometimes…!" _she_ whispered.

Unrealized by _her_, a pair of sharp eyes watched them from a far building's rooftop. Then a pair of strong wings flapped several times to loosen up their flight muscles in the morning breeze. Then the great hawk flew to a black robed shoulder up in the White-tower's balcony.

A pair of blond brows loosened up their concentration crease, the eyelashes fluttered open slowly, with eyelids halfdrooped as if sleepily staring farther at nothing in the spacious room. A smile of amazement bloomed on the handsome face as his mind puzzled out what was related to his sight.

"Interesting relationship you have there with your guardian-beast, Lady Deia of Archantra…!"

--------------- 

The morning assembly for introductions turned out becoming an opening to the political bargain at the end. Deia thought it bound to develop to that kind of situation remembering each country were actually in a bind with their own war with the OWLs. In fact, the whole ball-thing was really unnecessary, _she_ thought, if they really came there to make allies, deciding which country needed and which country thought to be just burdens instead; then they could just skip this ridiculous smiling-contest and came with it in the open. Right, so much for politician's smile, _her_ face started to feel like jello…! 

_She_ smiled in _her_ seat quietly the whole time, assessing each representative from each country. _She_ counted that there were a total of 28 countries' representatives, including the citystates, that came to the Virion's capital. With the exception of 3 other countries that declined the political invitation regarding their own reasons, including Rűdern; which Deia thought only natural that their people might trust their own land's magic repellent more than people of other countries.

"…What do you think, Lady Luna ?" suddenly a bearded mid-aged man asked _her_ opinion. He was Lord Servyll from Grandmongrel, _she_ recalled. Deia already heard his names several times in the Castile, this was the first time _she_ saw him up close, _another-mind_'s memories popped out in _her_ head as it recalled the report from Seventh that said Thrice had blown his Governor's chamber when the boorish man openly asked Thrice his price when he was sent there to see to his OWL-poisoned wound.

While the _other-mind_ chuckled endlessly at the memory, Deia thought that the Lord Servyll himself was actually a charismatic man, aside from the other thoughtless Grandmongrels reported, that including the singed boorish Governor, but _she_ didn't know whether he was really asking _her_ opinion or was just testing _her_. Just assume it as both, _she_ thought to _her_self.

Deia smiled wider as the other people's eyes focused at _her_, waiting for _her_ reply.

"From my ingenuous perspective, Lord Servyll, I believe that everyone here needs something for their own benefits, including the OWLs. That's why they attacked everyone, in the first place. And that's why all of you Guests of Honor came to this city, including myself.. " _she_ didn't say 'we'.

"But in vagrant perspective, the things needed by each other, including the OWLs, are not the same." Suddenly a blond girl in black dress added. It was still a generic addition that could develop whether to a supporting aid or to attack _her_, Deia thought. "So, what do you think the OWLs needed from Archantra, Lady Luna ?"

"Regarding that Archantra's nature was uninhabitable for most humans…". Lady Catalonia was _her_ name, Deia's mind supplied. _She_ had intentionally left _her_ words there, to see which direction Deia would place _her_ country in the whole situation.

So they're still assessing _her_ Land whether it's their enemy or ally-worthy.

"Truthfully, in my opinion, even though the people of Archantra could seek refuge to places out of Archantra, but ours cannot find shelter in your land, Lady Luna." That was Lord Barqiss of the Citystate of Nux-Via, it's located just behind Grandmongrel separated only by The Abyss of Myriads.

"That's right, even if you could benefit from humans, we are unsure whether we could benefit from you except for some particular magic-crafts of yours.."

"..Which I understand are not very dependable outside your land..!"

"So what do you think the OWLs wanted from your land, Lady Luna ?" Lord Servyll asked again and got the questioning back to the first track, ignoring the nattering chicken-males (which was _her_ _other-self_'s term for them).

Deia smiled warmly to him, "I am unsure about that, Lord Servyll, but I'm sure the Charms could find out something…". -_So these humans wanted to know what you're selling, hu ?_- the _other-mind_ echoed _her _thought.

"I assumed that your land could fend off their attacks just fine, but what if they wanted someone from your land instead of some nature sources or the land itself ?" Lord Barqiss asked again, the other chicken-males who likely rooted for him nodded their heads without being commanded.

-_What ? You saying just a speck of white-dot in the map doesn't show in their map…!_- the _other-mind_ sneered flatly.

"What if I say that my investigators had achieved that piece of information, even though they still not sure of who they wanted..?" Lord Barqiss added before Deia could answer.

Deia blinked, "Really ?" _she_ faked a mild-surprised (innocent) face. "It's the first time I heard of it, right Yuy..?" Deia tilted _her_ head up a little, somehow including _her_ Beast who was standing behind _her_ in such a subject made _her _feel relief as _she_ ignored _her_ _other-mind_ that was pointing some _happenstances_ about him and the OWLs in the past.

The discussants fell silent for a short while, flicking their stares at the full-armored guardian of _her_s that was always literally standing on _her_ shadow since the first moment they spotted them.

"I don't think just giving them what they want would make them signing a peace-treaty with their enemies..!" a quiet male voice reasoned, but it was drowned in other's erupting murmurs.

'…_are you sure you're not saying come-with-me-I'll-protect-you, Lord Barqissss…!_' Deia's mind mocked inside.

A soft snort, "…they'll ask for more if you give them something..!" –_just like you the servile-guests-of-honors_; the quiet voice added. "Though I'm not into wars and fights…!" the voice droned on ignoring other voices, but Deia could hear him despite all.

"So, what would you do with that piece of information..?" Lord Barqiss asked again, smiling wide but not quite sincerely. The other guests quieted staring at _her_.

"Hmmm…" Deia hummed to _her_self, "I guess I haven't decided about any happenstances like that, even though it's a probability which already crossed my mind from some time ago…!"

"….happenstances..?" a woman's voice asked unbelievably at _her_ term of the whole situation, but Deia didn't care of whose it was.

"But if you people of great experiences thought of it as something that could avoid the war between my Land and the OWLs.." _she_ touched _her_ chin lightly with one finger, feigning _her_ innocent pampered-princess act to the fullest. Well, if these humans really thought that _she_ would let them bargain _her_ Land after what happened in the city the other day, they must be some fossiled hipo-faced speciments…! That thought brought the memory of The Collector to the surface for a fraction of second, now _she_ thought _she_ could understand of his incredulousness of other species' stupidity from his point of view even for a little bit.

"Then the ones I need to discuss it with are the people at home..!" _she_ smiled brightly with _her_ final deduction, with a closing tone. Then _she_ stood up and cued _her_ Beast to go, ignoring the surprise murmurs from the people on the long table.

"While I'm thinking of what words I should report that subject with to the people at my home, I'd suggest you Guests of Honor to decide what you truely take of Archantra.." Deia said staring down at the table, "Since I'm strictly reminded that I am to not make enemies here..!" and added as if to _her_self. Then smiled to _her_ Beast to cue him that _she_ had finished in there, bowed once to the room in general, then leave.

"Haahaa… and there goes the star of this OWLs-fending matter with _her_ sweet words…!" the quiet male voice said with a flat boring tone, almost like mocking the gaping chicken-males and some hen-politicians that were staring _her_ disappeared from the room through the doors.

There was the sound of low chuckles heard from the end of the table direction. Most of the eyes of the guests' were directed at the chuckling sound after that, finding the Virion's Lord lounging on his chair with one hand on his mouth covering his quiet laugh.

"….please…., ArrenBone, you shouldn't make it sounded funny…!" the blond Lord said between his deep chuckles, wiping the laughing-tears from his eyes.

"I didn't, you're the one who thought of it that way…!" the quiet bored voice retorted with a soft snort. Then all eyes turned to a young man who looked more like a sickly-ruffian than a politician. He was playing with the lit chandelier in his one hand, watching the molten candle dripped into his wineglass, while the other hand stirring the glass with a table knife. His dim grey eyes recognized the others' stares at him. At first glance anyone wouldn't believe the sickly bluish-black color under his eyes was natural, he looked like a zombie of a sick-ruffian, even, what with his dark ragged garbs. He wore a thick tattered black pelt as his coat even in the journey through the desert.

"…Wine-coloured candlewax….?" he offered flatly to the others who stared him mutely, lifting a bead of wax on his table knife. That only fueled the Lord's chuckles into repressed laugh. 

"Master ArrenBone.., we are discussing some serious matters, here..!" the Lord Barqiss said rebukingly.

"…you mean 'ere'….!" he retorted quietly to himself matter of factly.

"Bone, it's not polite to mumble out your comments like that..!" Zechs cut before it gets to a word-fight.

"Hungggh…you're right. Since I'm dying-bored already, I'll take my leave now..!" his sickly-hunched figure stood from his chair, "See you, Blondy..!" with that mumbled greeting to the Lord he excused himself from the room. The said Lord lifted his hand a little to his greeting, watching with a smile of amusement at his wobbly walk that made him bump his body to the doorframe once before he's out of his sight.

The Lord Barqiss glowered at the closed doors, glancing at the blond Lord secretly. He didn't like to be looked down by others, especially by youngsters.

--------------- 

Deia half ran through the long corridors, ignoring the lining counselors in white robes, as _she_ instinctively found a secluded area which was a small corner garden, with copse of red-leaved trees sheltering its surrounding. There were four stone benches under the shade of the trees, arranged in a diamond pattern, which basically made a semi surrounded space in the middle.

Feeling the breeze bringing the land's vragrances to _her_ senses, Deia stopped abruptly in the small space in the middle of the stone benches, looking down at _her_ feet a little rigidly. Blowing out _her_ breath a couple times. A soundless presence behind _her_ stopped just a step distance, Deia gave a recognition headtilt a little, and cupped _her_ face with both hands. _She_ stood motionless for several seconds, then turned sharply at _her_ stoic Beast.

"….my face huuurts…..!" _she_ whined with tears in _her_ eyes. "I think the face muscles are cramped or something…!". _Her_ fake-sweetsmile still plastered on _her_ face..

The black-armored Beast didn't move a fraction.

A long frozen pause, the breeze blew playing with _her_ wisps of hair and dress.

…_so ?_

"…'so' ? ….I said my face hurt..!"

….._You shouldn't smile at them for that length of time..!_

"…you want me to singe them, instead..!" Deia creased _her_ brows, a strange mixture with _her_ stiff smile.

_I don't think you developed a muscle-lock…_

"Hahaa…funny, Yuy !" Deia showed him _her_ fangs. A few arteries popped on _her_ temples.

Seeing that he didn't have the initiative to aid _her_, Deia took his hands to cup _her_ face and rubbed them gently to smoothen _her_ stiff muscles. Staring his armor-head's face widely from _her_ lower line of sight. "….why are you angry..?" _she_ asked flatly.

_I'm not._

"You are…!"

"…,de ? 'Nandemonai'…?" _she_ asked, embracing his waist flat to _her_ body after _her_ fake-smile loosened from _her_ face.

_Aa…nandemonai._. His mind-whisper sounded distracted somehow.

"Uso daro..?"(3) Deia frowned.

The armor-head tilted down a little at _her_ face. Why was his Human acussing him lying ?

…_.the trees are watching..!_

"That's not something I-….!"

Suddenly a small repressed yelp heard accompanied with the sounds of broken branches and a dull thud from behind _her_.

Deia turned leaving one hand still embracing his waist. A boy about _her_ age sat on the soft grass, a light flush on his face. He was scratching his head of blond hair with embarrassment.

"…..I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude…!" he said while being pulled up to his feet by his friend who jumped down from the same tree he'd fallen from.

Deia blinked.

_They're here first..!_

"You're here first..!" Deia echoed half stunnedly.

"Yes..!" the blond said fast, "..and we didn't mean-"

"To watch..!" Deia finished his sentence. The blond boy sported a brighter flush, he bowed.

"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean-"

"To fall down..!" Deia stared. The boy froze with sweatdrop and even brighter flush. His taller friend stood behind him stoically.

Deia gave genuine wide smile at him, "It's alright, I apologize that it seemed like we were the ones who intrude you, instead..!"

"Don't apologize, Milady, we are just lowly mercenaries..!" the boy bowed again.

Deia's brows shot up. "Mercenaries ? ..at your age ?"

The blond boy blinked, and bowed his affirmation. "Seems like fun…!" Deia said brightly. The blond boy stared. 

"Yes….?"

"Like, you don't have to have your face muscles cramp from smiling too much in a political meeting where you really don't want to smile…!" –_more like, you really don't have to smile..!_- the other-mind said sarcastically at _her_.

The blond boy gave a tolerating smile of symphaty, welcoming _her_ friendliness, "….I guess..!"

After that the conversation didn't lengthen.

"Oh..! I'm sorry, my name's Quartz. My friends call me Q…!"

"Deia..!"

"This is Trowa..!" he offered his stoic friend's name, who bobbed his head at them.

"Yuy..!" Deia offered while tightening _her_ embrace around his waist with both hands again. Q noticed his armor-head turned to the bushes under the trees for some times now.

"They are my subordinates..-" he said while two men crawled out from the bushes. But Deia cut him before he could introduce their names.

"You have subordinates..! But you don't look like a muscle-type..!"

Q grinned at _her_ term, "I'm more like a tactician and negotiator rather than muscle-worker, Milady..!"

"Just Deia ! –So you're basically someone like a politician too, yes..?"

Q sweatdropped, "……I suppose..!"

"Hummm…poor us..!" Deia muttered to _her_self. "You received an invitation too..?" Deia asked while under _her_ question she pointed out that he wasn't in the meeting.

"We were commissioned. It's a safeguarding job through the desert..!"

"Just the four of you..?" Deia raised _her_ brows.

"We work more by finding a safe route rather than fending off dangers.." Q offered.

"Hmmm, right..!" Deia nodded _her_ head several times, "…especially if the politicians you're guarding were mouthy, yes…?" then whispered conspiratorially to his ear.

Q gave a deeper tolerating smile, understanding that _she_ was at _her_ limit of tolerating the said politicians in the meeting. "…Master Arre-B isn't the mouthy-type you'd hate, though..!"

"Arre-B..? ArrenBone ?" _she_ asked flatly. At the boy's nod Deia recalled the person's description. Then tilted _her_ head to the side like a bird, "Oh, that guy…!"

Q blinked again at _her_, realizing that _she_ was actually more of a boisterous girl than a sheltered princess. Suddenly Deia's straight stare fell on his eyes, "You are more of a gentleman's sheltered son than a mercenary, Young Master Q..!" _she_ said appraisingly.

--------------- 

"Found something interesting than some boring politicians, Bone…?"

ArrenBone glanced from the ends of his eyes, the blond Lord stood at the side of his hunched figure rested on the balcony wall. "I never thought you'd be the type to arrange this kind of party..!" he countered in a little raspy voice.

A deep sigh, "I didn't..!" he rested his back to the pillar, folding his hands at his chest.

"You're not the type to come to this kind of party yourself..!"

"I'm here for your dragon !" he said openly. He wasn't one who'd like to beat around the bush. "How's your uncle ?"

"Bedridden. My dragon..?"

"He said in the letter that he'd give me the dragon if I aid him. But I thought it's not his to give so I intended to confirm it with you….saying that you're available in the place I could meet..!"

"I wouldn't give away the dragon for everything, Bone..!"

"You wouldn't trade it even for your own life, I know. But I want it even if I have to steal it from you..!"

Zechs smirked. "So what's so interesting ?"

ArrenBone's dim eyes still focused on the people in the corner garden down. "That sweet-brat…" he pointed at Deia with his chin. Zechs curved his brows up in toleration at his vocabulary. "…had alter-mind I can't ignore..!" 

"That's new. I wouldn't thought there'd be someone who's compatible with you somewhere..!"

"That's not someone !"

"Something..?" Zechs arched his brows in question. ArrenBone only snorted softly, as if he didn't have enough air to be snorted out in his lungs.

"You're interested with that beast..". Not a question.

Zechs hummed to himself, his eyes stared the black-armored figure cravingly. "You know him ?"

"I might. But since I don't have the obligation to answer you, I'm not telling you anything..!"

Zechs chuckled. They knew each other long enough to not make enemies out of each other. "So, how's the University…?"

"Like always..!"

"The OWLs are adept learners, aren't they ?"

"More than upsiders..! So whose side you'd be rooting for ?"

"My people. Whose side are you ?"

"Mine."

"That's even more selfish than me, Bone..!"

"I'm a self-centered creature, that's why I exist..!"

"Yeah, I guess you should live like that. When are you going to try to steal my dragon ?"

"Do you really think I'd tip you off about that..?" the dim eyes glanced at his smiling face.

"You're not one who'll lurk behind my back."

"…..It's stirring to wake..!" with that the black-pelted hunched figure left in his wobbly walk.

"…and you shouldn't worry too much about your country's people. They're in good hands…-but not yours..!" ArrenBone said to the soft breeze. Not minding the Lord who was watching his back, or the lines of counselors as he entered the Palace corridor again.

A tentative hand grasped his red jacket's arm from behind. Zechs glanced pass his shoulder, finding a pair of wideeyed ruby eyes stared almost vulnerably at his. "His presence is far greater than mine, so you couldn't intrude his space without his consent. I'm just a mere human, after all..!" he offered without needing to be asked. 

The hand gripped tighter, lowering his black hooded head, a feeling of helplessness emanating from his submissive figure. Zechs pulled that head to rest its forehead on his arm that he's gripping, "You shouldn't worry about me, Bland. I'm not..!"

"Besides, above all of this country's people, you're the closest to me….", that sounded like an unfinished promise.

--------------- 

--------------- 

it's really NOT what you think it is…! n"n; (ummm…what it made you think of, actually..?)

as if I would give my superfluous full-name to strangers…! –Deia said-

Deia picked up Heero's language, so _she_ used masculine form


	19. 18 midnight shade part2

**# 18 Midnight Shade**

**Part 2 The dance that could not be declined**

Once the sky lit up with bright colorful hues of sunset, and the Windpipe's sixth tune hummed comfortingly, the Grand Hall was opened for the ball. The music started after the resonating hum died down in the city's air. Guests of Honors started to enter the ball room, each accompanied by a counselor who'd introduce them with a loud formal voice when they enter. The counselors lined up along the walls after they saw their guests to the hall.

Bland tied the silver-lace embroidered scarf around his Master's neck so very carefully, a down air surrounding his figure in his black robe. Zechs stared his covered face with a soft smile, trying his servant's patience for telling him what had made him down, but his submissiveness was taking control of his action now, that he didn't even let his Master see his eyes.

"What…?" finally Zechs couldn't stand this patience-game and tried to brush the covering black hood from his servant's face. But Bland flicked his head gently away from his big opened hand, and gave a deep bow as a sign that he'd finished helping his Master to be presentable.

A Palace Counselor at the doors reported that it was time to enter the Grand Hall, right when Zechs stood up to persuade his servant or intimidate him with his height. But sensing the strong resentment coming from the counselor, knowing what he was going to put forth before his formal duties, Zechs nodded and followed the counselor quietly, leaving his black robed servant still bowing to his departure.

A childish mind spoke in his head, saying that they're somehow acted like he was going somewhere unreachable, thinking that Bland somehow did look like he was bestowing him to someone far greater then his existence. '_What ? am I a sacrifice on the altar or something…?_' his mind mocked.

Suddenly, right after he finished that thought to himself, the counselor in front of him turned sharply, landed on his knees with his head flat to the rugged floor of the corridor. Zechs blinked, his eyes glanced around fast and realizing that that corridor was empty aside for himself and the prostrating counselor. Did he dare to ask after what his thought mocked him ?

"Sire…" the counselor began in a deep voice, "…you may take our lives after this.."

Oops.., that doesn't sound good to begin with, he thought.

"But you are the rightful Lord. We had to secure your safety..!"

'_What ? Are you people raising up a forbidden ward somewhere..?_' his childish mind smiled sympathetically.

"…that's why we didn't rescue you from your exile..!"

'_Oh..!_' his smile gone. '_This matter_…' he complained flatly.

"So what's so big a matter about it now..?" he sighed.

"Sire, please use your honorary name-…!"

"Does it really matter what name I use to call myself..!"

"You are a Peacecraft-..!"

"And..?" he cut again.

"You are _the_ scryed leader who will protect this Land in its hardest warfare-..!"

'_Oh, Good Lord..!_' Zechs blew his breath, '_Like we could win this war just by stating my name like a magicspell…!_'. Then squatted down, poking the counselor's head with his index finger. "See here…" he paused searching for the right words that hopefully wouldn't make his lining counselors to commit suicide for loyalty sakes, "…while I'm walking around in this red royal garb.."

"…and pondering what name I want to be called with…, not that I'm discarding or even committing a blasphemy to my great ancestors for inheriting their name to me…"

"…you are wearing these indistinguishable white robes and loosing your personalities just to show your loyalty for your whole lives..!"

"Do I even want to punish you for not coming to my rescue when I didn't order you to do it, in the first place..!"

The counselor's head snapped up, but Zechs' index finger giving him a sign to shut up beat him to it.

"What's done is done..! I don't want to have a headache trying to change the past, unless you have anything you'd reported to me that is currently in the present, or effecting the future..!" he creased his brows.

The counselor blinked at him. That was the first time Zechs saw his face revealed from under his white hood. He actually had a fatherly face, smile wrinkles rooted at the ends of his eyes. Zechs thought of what kind of life he actually had when he didn't have to wear the slack mask of a Palace Counselor. Virion was too sterile a place to have a personality when you're not a monarch.

"I know my duty, I never forget it even when I'm in a secluded place out of harm's reach…!" Zechs tried to smoothen the fact of the exile matter. "That's one reason I'm still keeping my life. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you and this country from its circumstances in the past…!"

"I'll try to make myself a worthy leader of your loyalty.." he smiled a little sadly.

"Sire…"

"Now…!" Zechs stood up, "Accompany me to the Hall, Counselor..!" he said with a lifted spirit. But the prostrating counselor still didn't budge from the floor. _'….what else..! You're even more emotionally persistent than Bland…..!_'

"Sire, please sever your bond with your beast…!" the counselor's voice said back in a usual flat tone.

The Lord blinked, '_Is this a curse I have to endure ? Having persistently nagging counselors who keep asking me that…!_'

The counselor sensed the changing in his Lord's disposition from his common average personality to an authoritarian Lord. "That is none of your concern..!" he said a little frozenly.

"But, Sire, your life is-…!"

"My blood…!" he stared down the counselor a little too frostily, "..is what make me what I am..!"

He didn't say 'who'.

The counselor muted and Zechs left with wide strides, knowing this Palace like his own palm, he thought he didn't really need any counselor to show him the way to the Grand Hall.

All eyes turned to him when the counselor at the doors he entered announced his arrival. He gave bobbing salutations at the guests with a firm smile, hiding his disappointment at not finding the one Beast-escort after he fast surveyed the spacious hall. He then performed his duty as a good host, just for formal sakes, while his mind actually strayed whereelse. The words that ArrenBone said that morning still pestering his thoughts, and that might be what made Bland backed from him a little.

He spotted the said black garbed person behind one of the tall pillars, avoiding the crowd, because the man found it that they're valueless in his own agenda, Zechs thought. At the exact time, the announcement of Deia's entrance took his attention to the doors. 

And the chattering crowd held their breaths simultaneously, staring at the smiling fairish girl. Lord Barqiss was in the middle of sipping his glass of wine, and it dribbled to his chin as he gaped at _her_ surreal beauty, as Zechs gazed from the ends of his eyes. A small snicker erupted from his throat, as he already knew that the said man looked at the girl as only a mere pretty-doll regardless _her_ royalty, that was why he'd pressed on _her_ in the meeting this morning. Now may be he'd upgraded his thought to one-of-a-kind-pretty-doll-with-royalty, his mind mocked.

Deia entered the Hall with such an utter innocent-look radiating on _her_ face that _she_ didn't look like a worldly being. _Her_ long wavy hair was loose cascading _her_ back, with the upper parts at the top of _her_ head done in small scorpion-plaits, tied interconnected together with dangling tiny silver chain. _Her_ dress was quite simple, but the sheen of blue shimmering light of the white cloth was nothing like everyone ever saw before, it made _her_ actually shining. _She_ smiled to the whole Hall in general, then gave a slow graceful curtsey. That moved its occupants to breathe again as they startled finding themselves in the realm of the living rather than in a dream.

Deia stepped into the Hall with _her_ guardian-beast following at _her_ shadow, they glided through the gawking crowd smoothly as if almost floating. Maybe since _her_ feet were covered by _her_ long dress, some people really thought that _she_ was really floating rather than walking. _Her_ Beast, on the other hand, seemed like his feet were attached to _her_ shadow, as if finding that he couldn't walk on anything other than the light shade of _her_s casted on the red carpeted floor. His possessiveness gave Deia a feeling of security somehow, but it baited Zechs more than anything; of that _she_ knew by herself, finding that he had his own master-possessive beast in black robe. The Lord's strange gazes on _her_ Beast confirmed that, even though he might thought that _she_ didn't realize his stares. But _she_ was more paranoid of _her _Beast's safety rather than anything else.

The surreal girl headed straight to him, Zechs noted, _she_ had a smile more delusive than any sweet-poison ever found on the Sphere by mankind. Kind of like the song of the sirens that lured the sailors onto rocks, or the giggles of the nymphs luring the lost travelers to stray missing in the woods.

He smiled warmly to _her_ smile, bowed formally but didn't kiss _her_ hand like he did to the other ladies, or like in their first meeting. Somehow the smell of a beast's blood surrounding _her_ like a veil kept him at a safe distance, so did the other royal guests unconsciously. They had been giving _her_ tentative smiles and awkward greetings, even though they didn't realize it except the blond Lord and the hunching figure in black behind one of the tall pillar.

A smile bloomed to _her_ with a little strange feeling along from the blond girl wearing black dress. Dorothy chatted with _her_ a little about generic subjects, furtively profiling _her_, Deia realized. The Master Pluie behind _her_ seemed bored to the bones, _she_ almost felt sorry for him, noticing his a little too visible limping walk. The guests who really worth the title of politicians were only _her_ and few others, the rest were just pompous power-bred monarchs who seek protection from bigger and stronger lands. Somehow that standard didn't apply to Lord Barqiss, though; he was the lord of a small citystate that came from a mix of noble and common family, and his territory was in bad shape and even in the verge of battle most of the time. So, where did his cocky attitude came from ? He didn't even do well in governing his area…

"…Milady…!" the said man greeted with almost a croaking voice, a strange gleam burnt in his eyes for a short moment. 

"Lord Barqiss..!" Deia curtseyed, "I'm very sorry for acting a little childish this morning…." _she_ gave him a shy smile, despite the confidence sparkling in _her_ eyes.

The strange gleams were back in his eyes, a little sharper at the edges, but _she_ dismissed it with a gentle smile. He left _her_ with polite nod after that.

'…_.aoow…, can't you feel his edges, really…?_' _she_ thought sarcastically with a sweet tone. A soundless snort answered _her_ from behind.

'_I know, I know..! Don't make enemies, right..! I get that….!_'

Another snort.

'_Really, I __do__…!_' _she_ frowned in _her_ mind, somehow even feeling that _her_ _other-mind_ mocked that confession. _She_ tried to shut it up with some cheery thoughts, knowing the _other-mind_ hated _her_ when _she_ did that.

The first dance music sounded after that, as if mocking _her_ forced cheery thoughts, as _she_ realized most of the stares in the Hall was directed at _her_ from the chicken-males, some of them even stared lecherously in the open. Some arteries popped in the back of _her_ mind, _she_ faked that _she_ didn't realize them by smiling warmly and almost shut _her_ laughing eyes completely. A sudden ladies' murmurs erupted, light steps _she_ could perceive closing at _her_.

"Lady Deia of Archantra…" the smooth polite voice began, "May I ask for a dance…" the voice trailed off.

Deia opened _her_ eyes finding Lord Marquis' face near _her _eye level with his bow. _She_ saw that he had something changed in his eyes, _her_ _other-mind_ woke to alertness but _she _quelled it down so as not to show on the outside. But _she_ thought he'd seen it in just a fraction of second as he continued his polite question.

"….with your escort..?" he closed it with a smile.

A humming murmurs heard like an undulating wave, died down almost as fast as it started.

Deia blinked, something that _she_'d describe as a white noise shrouded _her_ other-mind, not that _she_ wasn't grateful that it didn't induce _her_ mind or anything, but _she_ found it odd, almost felt like facing a bizarre mirror, to feel like _she_ was blanked in the appearance when _she_ thought _she_ actually wanted to laugh madly in the inside (because _she_ thought the closest thing to describe the sudden white-noise was that the other-mind was having a jawdrop when leering –imagine the drool..!). 

Another blink. And while _she_ was too careful of trying not to jerk the other-mind to alertness and blow the Hall to any saver hell, _she_ thought in the dumbfoundedness _she_ had given the Lord a nod.

His face lit up with gratefulness, he presented his white gloved hand to the black-armored youth behind _her_. "May I…?"

Deia could feel _her_ beast's shock, not that it showed on his appearance though, but he was staring dumbfoundedly at his offered hand for a full 5 seconds before _she_ could feel his widened disbelieving stare covered by his armor-head burnt at _her_ head from behind.

The blond Lord waited patiently with a warm smile, noting the beastly gestures he didn't realize he's making because of the shock. '_So, he's new to other's interaction…_'

"Please…, I won't bite..!" he whispered very quietly knowing a beast's hearing could still hear his words. Noted with satisfaction as the black-armored head snapped at him for those words. He smiled gently to the beast-of-escort, as if trying to comfort a frightened beast –that in some way it's true.

Yuy stepped forward with a heavy feeling, it showed in his almost slow-motion steps. He instinctively brushed Deia's side when he stepped to confront the Lord's waiting hand. That provoked the Lord's interest even more. 

'…._sorry…, don't make enemies, right…?_' was all _she_ could think to him at the short time.

…_aa…_. was his short mind-answer, then it blanked. Deia almost jerked when their link suddenly off as _her_ Beast was taken to a distance in the Lord's personal space, it managed to wake _her_ other-mind, though. –_Whaaaaaa'r'youdoinggg…!_- it reeled. Deia almost sweatdropped at the sound of the _other-mind_ in _her_ head. _She_'d roll on the floor laughing if it wasn't in such a situation.

'…_what should I do.., decline his first offer of dance in his Hall in the middle of a latent warfare…!_'

-_You're giving him away to a beast-..!_-

That made _her_ sweatdropped. '_Which one's which…?_'

_-…-a beast-tamer, you IDIOT..!-_

Deia snapped _her_ eyes to them, '…_he's not that vulnerable….!_', although _she_ couldn't feel the confidence of _her_ own thought, not in this land.

-_D'you know that..! Do you really now it like that in the outside ! Why d'you think he was with a pack of wolves and not with some humans back then…!_-

Deia gulped a little. '_he's…_.', a firm stare '_I'm here ! It should be alright..!_'

An exasperated growl in _her_ mind, -_Don't say I didn't warn you, you BAKA..!_-

'_It's alright…._' _she_ repeated to _her_self, felt the _other-mind_'s snort in _her_ head.

As expected, the Lord Marquis took him to the center of the spacious Hall, with EVERYBODY watching. He felt a very unsafe feeling being in a close distance with the human Lord, and halfconsciously flicked his head a little to his Human at some distance behind, noting with almost a lurching feeling that _she_ was watching him being herded to the center of the attention-field with a smile on _her_ face. He tried to swallow his nervousness. Not that he was frightened by this human's presence, no….but there was something with him that made him feel like he was oppressed furtively.

He almost turned in a snap as he felt the Lord's hand on the back of his waist. The human Lord faced him levelly with a smile. "If I could ask you to take off your armor-head, first….?", he began.

"Not that I don't find it mesmerizing, it just doesn't feel polite when everybody shows their faces…"

The Beast froze for a few heartbeats. A counselor with a tray approached them in his bowing gesture. Zechs could feel his swallowing and that intrigued him more, knowing himself that he's doing this just for fun more than anything else. "Just for polite's sakes..!" he comforted with a deeper smile.

The blond Lord felt it when Yuy conceded to his reasoning as his stiff shoulders sagged a little in front of him. The armored face was downcast a little, just enough so that his eyes didn't meet the human Lord's eyes when the armor-head liquefied back to his craft-plate. There were gasps and murmurs like "…It's magic-craft..!" erupted, he'd expected that much from the others around them. Seeing that the escort didn't need the tray to put his armor-head, the counselor left after bowing for permission to his Lord.

"Thank you..!" the said Lord smiled appreciatively, even though the half-face armor beneath the now gone armor-head baited him more. "Now, if you could remove this….-", he was going to touch the black-covered chin but it moved up just a slight as if dodging his fingers, and his words died in his throat as he saw the sharp prussian orbs countering his eyes with a straight impassive stare. The black mask slid to the sides from the centerline of his face, then the thin cover of black like another skin on his half face vanished like a layer of shadow absorbed by his skin. Zechs stared speechless as the perfect face exposed to his sight up close; the black armor was made from apparently something that absorbed light, made it like a lush velvet from the outside, and that in itself made an illusion that the wearer's skin was glowing softly with an aura from the inside.

"…he's so beautiful..!"

"Who said he's a hideous-looking beast..!"

Mumbles and murmurs of surprised appreciations heard from here and there. True, that was the face that would even make a straight well-cultured man to consider collecting just for the sake of monopolizing it in his possession. That face in the sight related to his mind-eyes this morning was blocked by the draping curtains of _her_ window, so he didn't expect….he didn't know what to expect at that time.

And those deep impassive eyes…

The Lord jerked himself to reality visibly, not that most of the human beings were aware of it as themselves were gaping with flushed faces as well. "Ah,…shall we start now..?" he encircled his right hand to the slender waist, amazed at the warmth of the seemed cold black armor was actually felt like a living being's pelted skin. The black gloved hand in his left hand was in the contrary to its appearance, felt vulnerable and as if being careful of his bigger hand as to not use too much force that would hurt it. He knew that smaller hand was far stronger than his, though, but its gentle hold made his genuine smile bloomed. Noted to himself that the prussian eyes flicked to his human Lady again when he did that.

The music started with a waltz, his Human had taught him how to dance in the Castile, even several traditional dances of other countries for anticipating this kind of event. Since he wasn't earthbound, he could move freely and as light as any Fairs would. It felt like they were dancing on the clouds, Zechs thought. He knew his Bland wasn't an earthbound too, but his beast was a little too shy to be asked for a dance even in the private, thus he never really had an experience close to this. Despite his full-body armor, he danced graciously with liquid movements, all eyes noticed, mostly with dreamy stares from the ladies.

Deia watched while in the inside _she_ was trying to ignore _her_ surrounding. It was beginning to feel too thick to breathe in, even though _she_ wouldn't consider it as a lusty atmosphere. _She_ noticed that the spacious room had stopped its activity, except for the music players, and all eyes stared the two beings dancing in the center almost unblinkingly. _She_ tried to not notice the craving stare of the Lord's at _her_ Beast too, to no avail, it was too obvious that even if _she_ didn't see it _she_ would still feel it in the air. A bubble of uncomfortable feelings started to pop in _her_ insides, followed with another, then several others. _She_ was not boiling, _she_ thought to _her_self…

'_Just ignore him…._' _she_ tried, '.._cut him dead…cut him dead….!_' Deia repeated like a spell, feeling more and more bothered by the looks on the Lord's face; so _her_ premonition (jealousy) proved to be true, right..! _She_ was so engrossed at concentrating to ignore the man's face (which actually by staring at it unblinkingly) that _she_ didn't notice the flicks of gaze _her_ Beast casted to _her_ every now and then.

-_Yeahh…CUT him DEAD literally..!_- the _other-mind_ leered inside that Deia even felt its malicious broad smirk like a second skin underneath _her_ smiling face.

'_Shut up..!_'

"You really do like her, don't you..?" the soft voice asked as he noticed the prussian eyes stole glances to Deia more than several times now. That brought the impassive stare stick to his eyes, "She danced with you like this?". A blink questioned him back more than answering. An almost smirk altered the smile on Zechs' face, "How about like this…?" he pulled the slender armored body flat to his, feeling something akin to satisfaction as it stiffened a little and stopped moving just for a second.

The music changed to the slow one as the music players noticed their Lord's new position. "You should rest your head like this in this kind of dance.." Zechs embraced the brown head with his encircling hand to rest on his taller shoulder, suspecting that he was never in that position in a dance before if he only danced with his Lady. The surge of alertness charged for a millisecond from his stiff figure, and Zechs brushed his fingers a couple of strokes on the back of the brown head to comfort the beast.

"You were told not to make enemies, I see..!" he tried to make conversation, but knowing that was not a start to a real conversation. "How old are you? Your presence is bigger than someone I knew…". That meant his own beast.

The prussian eyes flicked sideways to his, but he didn't even make a sound to answer. _So he too was a shy type_, he noted to self with a new euphoria of a challenging conquest. A flash of frozen daggers in those prussian eyes told him that the beast felt what was on his mind, perhaps instinctively, knowing that the beast familiarized him as a beast-tamer since their first meeting.

He knew he was good looking, so he used to smile his adversaries to submission since childhood. This one was no exception, too. He gave him his gentlest smile he used to compel Bland with, and it worked like always as those sharp eyes snapped away from his eyes, a momentary repressed shudder he felt on his chin as it was in contact with his shoulder.

"…I mean no harm, truly…!" he murmured softly, "Well,….perhaps not yet, if you'd rather think that was my honest admission..!"

"But I'd have to admit that I am intrigued to do more than just this….". The prussian eyes drooped in frost glare a little, their gentle movements of slow dance mocked his alertness. "I know that it's not my place to ask this; but, are you happy..?" The delusive gentle eyes smiled to the frosty side-glance at his face. "If I offer you something, would you allow me….-"

Those smile-drooped eyes strayed to his lips, Yuy noted as his jaws gritted reflexively. "…to..-" the word cut completely as his lips touched the beast's lips. Yuy stopped moving altogether, and Zechs didn't mind it. He was only wanted to flirt a little, if you'd rather not think that he was bullying the beast for fun's sake, but the beast's cold shyness he couldn't refuse to try to stir even just for a little bit. The slender neck in his arm was strong despite its vulnerable appearance, he pushed it forward a little more to his exploring lips. A little voice in his head pointed to him that he was just trying to provoke a little reaction from the beast in his arms, but somehow the blood in his veins called out to the beast, recognizing its presence to commit another conquest. And before he knew it his tongue pried the beast's thinned lips open and pushed it inside as he deepened the one sided kiss.

Suddenly his tongue made contact with a line of needle-sharp teeth, the sharp points nicked it to bleed. Zechs stopped his action as the small pain pierced his conqueror-mind to awareness, but he widened his eyes for a fraction of second as he felt a firm and not-slippery tongue, similar to the texture of a shark's skin, sought his nicked one, tasting his blood. He blinked and gently pulled back, staring a little stunnedly at the black-armored beast still cornered by his half encircling hand. His face was a blank mask and his prussian eyes seemingly looking pass through him.

Zechs blinked his mild surprise, and instinctively knew the person the beast was staring behind his body. He stared the mask of face in front of him for a while, something nudged his mind, but he tried to ignore it for now. Then bowed to whisper to his ear, "….you should be the one initiate it like that, it's not a Lady's place to come forward and opens a man's arms….!"

The hard prussian eyes glanced at his, it took sometime for his words to sink into his beastly mind. But Zechs watched with satisfaction as it eventually dawned and reflected in his eyes that were melted gradually and widened with a flush of redden color on his cheeks. He smiled widely to the beast's realization. 

He opened his mouth trying to say something back to him, but swallowed it again, then snapped his face away from the human Lord's smiling face with a little grouching expression. That brought a silent chuckle from the Lord. "I'm sorry, the kiss was a joke….! But what I said afterward was not..!"

_None of your concern…!_ Was what those prussian eyes burnt to him in a snap. Zechs felt he didn't want to push this beast more, so he escorted him back to where his human Lady was standing, finding _her _still smiling angelically. He bowed deeply to excuse himself and left the two alone, letting the beast sort it out by his own pace after this.

Yuy was back behind _her_ with his impassive face, but with an escort who had that kind of immaculate face now no chicken-males would dare to ask _her_ for a dance, _she_ thought, watching furtively as the said chicken-males shrunk. _She_ thought that _she_ could use his face to shield _her_ from them like that as well, but _she_ thought _she_'d rather not tempting a beast-tamer Lord in his spell-tampered palace. A gloved finger sought _her_ fingers covered by _her_ long dress cut Deia's mind instantly. _She_ loosened the grip _she_ didn't realize _she_ was doing, feeling _her_ Beast's little finger encircled _her_ index finger out of anyone's sight. It might be a little childish, but felt endearing. Deia knew he didn't ask for comfort for himself, he was too worry that _she_ would blow that hall to any hell _she_ didn't really care which one.

'….._I'm fine….!_' _she_ smiled to _her_self in _her_ mind, '.._you worry too much..!_'. Truth was _she_ felt relief draining _her_ boiling energy as whatever it was _she_ witnessing ended before the _other-mind_ blinded _her_ logics and made _her_ lash out in a blast. He didn't relate anything to _her_ afterward, _she_ didn't thought nor said anything to him, either. They just stood unmoving and silenced for the longest time as the Grand Hall lived up with music and dances. 

Zechs stole a glance to them somewhere in the spacious room between his guests. Something that nudged his mind came forward with his clearer thought. '…_he tasted my blood…! He's not protected….-_'

A weak snort came from behind one of the tall pillar. "…Love-based bond, hu..? As if a human and a beast's relationship could ever work out….!". ArrenBone finished his wine in one gulp, then uncaringly let the empty glass fall to the floor from his hand. The glass didn't broke when it's suppose to hit the floor; instead, the black shadow under the black garbed figure swallowed it completely. 

---------------

Q ran as fast as he could in the maze of narrow stonewalled passageways, knowing that not one of his friends were following behind him. This was not their plan. They were supposed to run away through the escape route they had set in the plan. But he was grateful that he knew his friends could make it there safely. Now, if he only could escape his pursuer….

A sharp wheezing sound heard from behind, he turned around sharply before that attack could hit his body, using the egg-shaped stone in his hands to fend off the blasting wind. A loud crack sound like a lightning heard, and he was thrown backward by the collision. He landed on his back with his breath knocked out from his lungs. Took sometime to take a few hard breaths on the floor, knowing that he was in another passageway so he didn't really have to be right on his feet to confront the pursuer.

'…_this is getting confusing…! I couldn't make out the direction anymore_…' he sat up and set the egg-shaped stone vertically on the floor at his side. The stone rolled to its length side pointing the direction behind the boy's back. '_That way now…?_' 

He took a deep breath and stood, and running to that direction, knowing his pursuer was close behind and would find him again in no time. Just as he finished that thought, the wall to his left side blown to pieces, he almost didn't make it to plunge forward dodging that one. The boy hissed a little as the projectiles managed to hurt his left upper arm and shoulder.

A blur of black flashed from the hole in the wall, stopped and floated above him with a burning pair of red eyes ready to kill him without so much of a thought. Q stared the black robed figure passed his wounded shoulder, his right arm clutching the head-sized stone under his body. The beast's face under the black hood didn't show any emotion beside livid wrath in his red-burning eyes. Q knew that this beast was still young, but still he was an ordinary human to fend him alone, and he didn't have any weapon with him that could defend himself with even if he had the chance.

Bland brought his hands up, collecting the wind in them as he 'gripped' the spear of air to impale the thief to death. Q only stared when those hands waved down throwing that spear to his body, waited the last moment to toss his body to his back revealing the egg stone to that blast. He uttered a repressed yelp when another explosion threw his body through the space's frame again in the short distanced teleportation. The short lost-moments repeated again and again started to make him nauseous. He coughed hard when he landed not so graciously on the floor of another passageway, trying to quell the urge to vomit.

When he looked around him again, his vision swayed. '…_where to, now_…..'

The egg stone rolled from his loose encircling hand, it bumped to the wall once and made an odd stop on an odd angle pointing at the right side of him a little behind his sprawling body. Q forced his body to his feet, knowing the pursuer could find him faster and faster now. The last attack was too close…

'.._right..? But this is a one-way tunnel_…-' he realized something and used the wall to help him moving on his feet. There was an intersection only a few meters behind his landing spot, and he took the right passageway. He knew the smell of his blood would attract the beast's sense even faster now, so he closed his eyes and tried to force his quacking body forward as fast as it could.

A breeze blew to his face made him snap open his eyes, thinking that his pursuer was already waiting in front of him. But what waiting for him there was something even more shocking to him, he ran to the end of the tunnel momentarily forgetting his pains, and stared wide eyed at the cityscape laid outside.

'…_a tower window…!_' And the high one at that! _They were escaping from the underground chamber, for heaven's sakes…!_

'…_you think I could fly….?_' He asked bewilderedly to the stone pressed to his stomach. A high pitched cry of a hawk up there startled him, he tried to adjust his eyes to see where it came from, and somehow he sensed that he's been spotted. A sound like a dove's coo heard from behind him in the passageway as if answering to the hawk's call. It repeated for several times, each time getting closer and closer to the end of the tunnel.

Q tried to swallow his fears, he knew who's making that dove-like sound. In a flash he contemplated jumping off the tower window down, hoping that he'd be lucky enough that his friends would already be down there, and catch him…? He blinked to himself, where did that stray of thought come from ?….but it felt too real as if he saw it in his mind.

The dove sound was close now, only a few meters away, and getting closer. He could see the black robed shadow coming his way, with one hand sweeping the wall along his walk, as if emphasizing the marks of his territory. The red blazing eyes told him that he could not talk this pursuer out, even if he gave him back the stone in his hand. Not that it was an option in his mind, though…

Bland extended the hand that had been sweeping the wall to the thief in front of him, the winds from the outside gathered to his call around the tower window. He could see the thief's face turned white by his panic, and smelled blood in his short breaths. So he's injured quite bad. Then, if he wanted to kill him by his own hands, he should do it quickly before the injuries kill the thief.

Q stared the beast unblinkingly, trying to swallow the bile in his throat again. No, actually it tasted like tangy liquid. The free air behind him started to feel solid, the force could crush his body like nothing if it used to 'grip' him, he saw what it did to the stonewalls in the tunnels. And they were spell-tampered walls, even. He glanced behind and down, calculating how deep the plunge down would be, noting to self that the White-tower was at the edge of the Palace's cliff, and there wouldn't be anything between his feet and the city down there for about more than 80 stories high if he were to take the jump.

Then closed his eyes, gave out a slow sigh.

"…you think I could fly….!" he whispered as if to someone else besides them both. Bland heard his defeated tone too, but before he could decipher what the thief meant (not that he really cared), the thief let his body fall backwards, to the cityscape laid down. Knowing if he ever survived the fall, he'd be out from the palace on the ground bellow.

That was, if anyone really could survive the fall..!

Q opened one of his eyes a slit, recognizing the cliff's natural rocks passing bellow his feet in a blur as he fell down with his back facing the ground. The solidifying air managed to slow down his speed at first, but he knew if the wind-user beast ever using it to crush him, he'd be dead right away. Spoke of the devil, the said beast it plunging down towards him, as well. Q gritted his teeth at the beast's persistence, not that he didn't expected such a thing from him, though.

Bland gripped his extended right hand tightly with his left, collecting wind in his open palm with that stone in the thief's possession was harder than he thought. Being farther and farther away from his Master was making it more difficult to concentrate, too. He used the thought of 'for Master's sakes' to boost his accelerating energy and managed a wind-canon ready to fire around his extended hand.

Q widened his eyes in disbelief as the air sucked to the beast's open palm, and made his fall getting slower and slower to eventually stop half way down. He bugged his eyes out as he realized he couldn't breathe, and even the air left in his lungs was being sucked out. The beast was fast closing the distance in the air. And even before he was close enough to him, the atmosphere from his wind-canon felt like razorblades cutting his body. He could see his dripping blood from the numerous cuts moved up as it too being sucked by the beast's canon. An attack like that, even if he use the stone wrapped in his right hand at his front to counter it, he thought he wouldn't be able to survive the explosion produced when the two powers collide.

'…._Trowa..!_' in the end he called the only name crossed his mind while closing his eyes.

Then a blast of invisible sound-wave struck them like a flood centering from the palace right before the last moment.

Q widened his eyes with a muted scream as he felt the sudden shot of electricity surged his body and the stagnant atmosphere around him. The air felt like broken glass letting him continue his falling down again. His shocked brain only registered that he was falling even faster than before, since the air was broken and its shards were everywhere. Only that those shards too were crushed into invisible air again by the sound-wave.

'…._I never saw shards of air before_…' he thought to himself with a tired smile, before he lost his consciousness.

A huge 'hand' of vine trees caught the wounded falling body near the bottom of the fall. The heavy fall made Q's body penetrated the vine's soft branches, but two pairs of waiting hand and a body cushioned his fall on the ground.

"Master…!" two men hurried to their sprawling bodies. Trowa let out a deep breath feeling that Q was still alive in his embrace, the stone was safe in his right hand despite him being unconscious. He wrapped his partner's smaller body with his cloak, and took him to the waiting horses. The two men followed their leader to their own horses, but the steeds were still agitated by the sound-wave reverberating through the air even though the men had covered their ears by Trowa's order before, including their own ears. They tried to calm them down when they started to kick madly, but seemingly useless.

Trowa went to the front of the agitated horses, presented the wrapped Q to them and stared them with his inhuman eyes. The horses still look agitated but they calmed soon after. He gave a cue to the men to mount their horses, and then fled from the place on his own horse with Q in his arms.

As they rode through the paused city, passing the petrified citizens in their frozen poses along the streets, the men stared Trowa's back. Knowing the lad, he must have 'said' to the horses that he wanted to get Q to a safe place to treat him, and that he needed their help. One of the man smirked from behind the long cloth wrapped around his lower face. Right, practical was practical, and he didn't have any complaint about the lad.

In the air between the tower and the ground, Bland stopped in his plunge down. His eyes were bugged out but he didn't see his surroundings anymore, feeling the sound-wave electrocuting him bits by bits from the inside out. The ready wind-canon was charged with currents around his right hand and body. He couldn't control it any longer. He's going to explode. With a thought of his Master he screamed mutely as the power around him blasted up and downward.

One of Q's men glanced behind as a bright light blasted in the Palace's air. He could guess what that light was, and rode his horse faster thinking that he didn't want to confront what power had that beast down just by its sound-wave. Yeah, right…'just' by its sound-wave, alright..! Truth was he just wanted to escape that sound-wave as fast as he could.

Labor hitched breaths. Beads of cold sweats were dripping to the ground. Two balled quivering hands propping the crouching body, the right one was covered in the shredded loose sleeve that was soaked with blood. "…Master….." the hooded head looked to the direction the thieves gone to.

"….Master's dragon…!" he uttered between his hard breaths. His right hand gave out and his body fell to the side. _Master's in the Grand Hall_… he thought as he stared feverishly to the night sky from the end of his eyes. He contemplated to run after the thieves to get his Master's precious dragon back or to go back to the Palace to insure his Master's safety.

…._Master's interested with another beast…!_ He pictured the Lady-guest's escort.

….Master's _dragon would awake as another beast as well_…. So, if he could get the stone back, he'd be rivaling with two other beasts, of which were much greater than him.

…_..Master loves the dragon very much..!_ The black hooded head straightened, propping its body with his left hand with difficulty, facing the direction of the thieves had taken. But another stronger flood of sound-wave interweaved with the still reverberating one sounded from the opposite side all around the city. He yelped brokenly and covered his head as much as he could with his hands on the ground. Then, there's only one thing left in his mind.

"…Master….." -.._in the Grand Hall..!_

--------------- 

Deia squinted both of _her_ eyes as the sound-wave reverberating everywhere from the source very close to _her_. _She_ glanced to _her_ side, noting Yuy's partly opened lips with the points of his needle-sharp teeth slightly visible. His sudden inhuman scream eventually stopped as he sensed _her_ stare on him. As he expected, his Human wasn't too much as effected as everybody else would since _she_ already used to hear him singing in _her _sanctuary. They stared each other for a moment.

"…Returning an old debt…!" he offered with a voiceless whisper.

Deia blinked, noticing that he looked like he was quite in shock himself. '_What else..?_'

_We should go back..!_ Yuy grabbed _her_ hand and took _her_ outside the Hall. Deia noted that everyone was like frozen statue on their spots, few of them managed to look at where he stood when he let out the sound-wave, but they too were frozen with a little shock managed to creep on their faces. But something caught _her_ eyes…

Zechs smirked between the petrified people; he caught a glimpse of Deia's eyes before they vanished through the side doors of the Hall. A sudden blow of breeze told him that his beast was near him, he turned sideway when suddenly the said beast fell down to the front of him from nowhere.

"Master…, the dragon…!" was what he gasped out as his left hand clutched his bigger arm.

Zechs caught his falling body, a little gleam burnt in his eyes as he saw his servant's condition.

"..they took..-"

"Shh..!" Zechs brought the black hooded head flat to his own chest. Right hand encircled the smaller body, left hand covering his servant's ear as the other ear he pressed to his beating heart in his chest to sooth him.

"This is…" he whispered softly and slow, "..a siren's-cry..!"

"You shouldn't tame beasts with this Voice, since they will bring bad luck even to generations after…!"

That brought his panic servant's eyes to his. "So, you won't have a rival in a short time…!" he smiled to his stunned red-eyes. Letting him took the time to calm down as long as he needed, seeing as the sound-wave wouldn't die down in a short time since the city wall bounced it back and forth to the center just like the Wind-pipe's sound. He felt a little upset that his city's form brought an advantage to the ones not on his side.

Small hick-ups brought his eyes down again, quite surprised at finding his Bland cried openly even with face down. He must have felt so useless that he did that in his embrace. "…'m sorry I failed…!" was what he mumbled over and over. He came to the Grand Hall to insure his Master's safety, but he turned out to be the one protected still.

Zechs forced his chin up a little to face him. He was closing his eyes in fright of the judgment of his failure. "No…." Zechs wiped his tears with his right thumb, noted that he'd flinched when he touched his face but didn't jerk to avoid the contact.

"You didn't fail….You came back to me alive..!"

That made him scrunched up his face with more tears flowing down, then covered it with his not so badly injured left hand as he hid it on his Master's chest. He cried brokenly there, while Zechs assessing his injuries with not so pleased a stare, the injuries on his right hand seemed like the result of an enormous power from himself. '_Since when did you manage to conjure that much power, Bland…?_'

To him, Bland was always his little beastling…

--------------- 

"Where are we going..!" Deia asked while hurrying after _her_ Beast fast strides, taken by _her_ hand. _She_ changed _her_ dress into a riding suit in the way, just a blast of smoke-like black shade cover, and in the next step _she_ already changed. _She_ flicked to the lines of paused counselors on either side of the corridors, a light crease appeared between _her_ brows. Both of them were heading up.

_We should hurry..! Cover your eyes !_ Yuy thought once they got to a flat roof.

"What is it ? Could you be more communicative..?" but _she_ closed _her_ eyes obediently. _Her_ Beast didn't elaborate more, but _she_ sensed a difference in the wind blowing to _her_.

…_Alright, we'd go now…!_

Deia opened _her_ eyes to his offered hand intended to aid _her_ mount the divine white horse he was already riding. _She_ was stunned for a moment but complied by taking his offered hand and let _her_ light body pulled up facing the whitefire mane. _Her_ mind blanked for sometime, as _she_ glanced to Yuy's alarmed face behind _her_, _she_ could only formulate one question. 

"…What about Odin's warsteed..?"

_We don't have time. Odin's friend already knew what would happen, so he'll be following our path if he'd like to…_

That sounded final, ….and desperate. Deia deepened _her_ creased brows. "Yuy, what's happening..?"

_Her_ flat gentle tone somehow calmed him from his shock. _Her_ straight wide stare captured his eyes, and he sighed out a long deep breath slowly. Deia noted his shoulder sagged with almost a shudder as he dropped his face from _her_s.

…_I…had a feedback, back then_…. He meant when he let out the Voice in the Grand Hall, Deia's mind spelled to _her_.

…_It's from Skirr…! We should go back right away, or never at all_… The deep prussian eyes darkened at _her_ wide half-inquiring half-stunned violets. His Human stared his intense stare back for sometime, probably digesting what he was saying in _her_ mind.

……'_are we… am I..exiled…?_'

_No, something happened…!_ _Her_ Beast shook his head vigorously.

'…_something that bad…?_' _she_ noticed his thinned lips twitched once, he never showed his weakness like that these past years, so what ever happened this time must be _that_ bad.

'_Is this OWLs-related..!_' _her_ sharp stare regained their focus.

_I don't know… Could be_… he casted his stare down avoiding _her_ eyes.

"Then I don't want you going back there..!"

"…You're throwing away your home..?" his whisper almost sounded hurt. The bitterness in it jerked Deia to a shock. "No…!"

The brown haired head dropped to _her_ shoulder in defeat. "Then we'll be fast-riding, we could get there before dawn…."

As if being cued, the whitefire horse spread its one-wing and Deia's body thrown back to his armored front, a pair of black gloved hand encircled _her_ from behind. _She_ didn't even have a chance to utter anything else, as _she_ widened _her_ eyes realizing what speed the whitefire horse could fly.

--------------- 

--------------- 

Sorry for taking so long to upload…. Work's been busy, n the publisher gave us more and more works to do… (of which -sadly- we've been always late at finishing –the drafts were not much fun, but finishing is hell…-) haahha


	20. 19 sad flower

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku****15 feb****, 200****8**

**# 1****9****Sad Flower **

_I am drifting on a raft just enough for myself_

_The waters is black and restless surrounding me_

_I thought I see a deserted lighthouse far ahead,_

_standing still in the thick mist, _

_on an island that's almost drown by the tide_

_The waves bring me closer to that motionless shadow_

_I find it odd as the supposed tower is so small_

_compared to myself and the vast waters_

…_it is you smiling.._

_On a rock that is enough for you alone,_

_with water laps brush your naked feet ceaselessly_

_Then the winds clear the mist between my raft and your rock_

_as if mocking our short distances that we both don't want to cross_

…_you're smiling.._

_With eyes hidden behind your long bangs_

_I know what color they have even though I never see them_

_The small shy smile that I know only belongs to you_

_I wish you realize the me on my raft staring at you_

_I wish you don't see me drifting away_

_I wish I could call out to you even just a whisper_

_I wish I knew your name in my lips_

…_you're smiling_

_at nothing.._

_Perhaps you realize that I'm just an illusion_

_and that you are only a dream to me_

_And the waters bring me pass your rock farther and farther_

_as the mist swallows you again from my sight_

_I don't wish to see you again since it'd only be hurting us both_

_I only hope you'd always have what little rock enough to stand on_

_and that when you're finally drown you'd wish that my raft were near_

_even though I might not be on it anymore to help you_

_I wish I wouldn't see it when your smile vanish in the waters_

_So I'm still drifting away_

_ farther.._

_And you're still smiling_

_a shy farewell smile…_

Deia started to wake, _she_ didn't realize when _she_ had fallen asleep, must be the blur of the speed made _her_ eyes tired. Like, how fast you should go if you want to compress a 9-days ride to a 9-hours worth?

_She_ glanced to Yuy's face behind, a little downhearted at his closed expression. The strong hands embracing _her_ felt a little guarded. _She_ frowned to _her_self, facing forward again.

_Nightmare..?_

Deia jerked by surprise. '…_don't startle me like that..!_' _she_ groused.

_Sorry.._

A moment of pause.

_It felt like you were reaching out to me…but you didn't want to come closer…! It felt like letting go.._

Deia stiffened a little. The dream ! '…_You felt it..?_'

He gave a soft grunt.

'_You could see my dream..?_'

A snort. _Of course not..!_

'_Right…! Of course_…' _she_ gave an awkward smile to _her_self.

'_What time is it ?_'

_You fell asleep for about two hours.._

That long ? _She_ didn't realize it was that long a dream… '_How long till we get there ?_'

_About an hour, more or less… You nervous ?_

"…should I..?" _she_ whispered. _Her_ heart didn't beat as anxious as before, the dream must have etched the submissive feeling in _her_ consciousness.

-_Felt like letting go_..- _her_ mind echoed _her_ Beast's thought. '_Letting go of whom….?_'

_There's nobody here..!_

Deia snapped _her_ head up. _She_ knew what was _her_ Beast talked about, _she_ ,too, didn't feel the OWLs in the vicinity anymore, not even one. Not even a single scrap of an OWL. If _she_ calculated it right, they were above Eyränd's territory. Recalling that the vast land was always in open undulating wars with the OWLs, it was indeed strange that they had retreated in only a short span of time –considering of how long they had insisted invading the land.

Or have the Eyrändysths made a new move against them ? Deia tried to puzzle the pieces together, but _she_ found that they changing their representatives to Viricidia was hardly a tactic that could result in this kind of situation. What the Lord Barqiss told _her_ in the morning assembly brought _her _another anxiety, not that _she_ really want to care about it…

_We're here..!_

Deia jerked again, _she_ was more than nervous _she_'d felt calmer than a living being in hibernation, that was if no one surprise _her_. _She_ glanced back a little irritated at _her_ Beast behind. -…_liar, you said it'd be about an hour to get there…!_-

A blast of thick air being penetrated around them made _her_ snapped _her_ head forward. They were running only a few meters above ground, so _she_ could still see the great Barrier of _her_ Land that was a hemisphere of light seen from the outside as a dome's wall. And right now, it was….writhing…

_She_ widened _her_ eyes.

"The Barrier is…. hurting..!!" _she_ forced _her_ voice out in the violent winds that cut through the horse's space-shield. Now _she_ noticed that even the whitefire horse was having a difficult time moving forward against the turbulence, no wonder he'd said it'd be about an hour. _She_ wonder if any common beings could force their way into this power-storm.

Perhaps that was what had the OWLs retreated from the area.

The Barrier's condition was actually in a boiling state, like the surface of the sun if you could see it up close, with mist and tendrils of raw energy coiling and furling through the air like a creature in its dying thrashes, soaring to every direction as if searching for a helping hand, clawing blindly as they found nothing. It extended to almost more than twice the size of the Land itself.

Like a drown giant…if you could hear its agonized howls. Painful and despairing..

"Could we get in there..?!" Deia shouted anxiously, _her_ mind blanked, all _she_ could think about now were _her_ loved ones in the Land.

Yuy didn't say anything, he was just tightening his hold on _her_ small frame, bended their bodies forward focusing the whitefire horse to pass through the excruciated winds. Every now and then layers of boiling claw of power blasted their space-shield, blinding their eyes temporarily, as if trying to hit them off track.

Deia only felt cold freezing _her_ core, _she_ didn't aware of _her_ body trembling in his embrace; not because the immense power hitting them constantly, nor the enormous deathtrap they were walking on. _She_ didn't even realize that they could be wiped out of existence like a small grain of dust.

It was the feeling of rejection that froze _her_. Being cut off from the Land _she_'d taken as _her_ Mother, _her_ only home.

That _her_ Land rejected _her_ presence to this state, more than prejudice, more than verbal condemnation, more than murderous intention _she_'d felt following _her_ close behind in every corner of the Land's. More than…-

"…Human mine…." A soft voiceless whisper in _her_ ear, "Human mine…" it repeated again and again like the gentlest necromancy-spell. _She_ felt the furls of light brought _her_ up from the darkness of _her_ worst fear into the strong embrace of _her_ Beast's.

"..Human mine…!" he held _her_ flat to him as if wanting to crush their bodies into one. Deia gasped out, closing _her_ eyes tightly and pressed the strong hands embracing _her_ body as if determining those hands to not letting go of _her_.

_She_ concentrated at the feeling of him in the long and hard trek in the howling Barrier, he felt warmer and warmer as if burning up into the whitefire itself, cocooning _her_ whole body and soul. _She_ thought _she_ didn't mind if _she_ were to be burnt in the fire that was him, becoming fire must be to not see the darkness ever again…

"Human mine,…we're here.." the soft whisper woke _her_ awareness somewhat, _she_ must have lost it somewhere in the supposedly short distance of ride into _her_ Land.

A tired blink.

Several more focused blinks.

…..They were in _her_ Land..!

"The Castile…?" he asked. _She_ was still in an overwhelmed state, but nodded once. The condition of the Forest was too obvious to not be noticed for even _her_ baffled mind. Everywhere _her_ eyes fell _she_ could see broken trees, rough and dry. Fallen branches were scattered on the ossified grass and what once were leafs that had fallen to the groungs by their solid weights. They let out crunches as they broke, like the sounds of dry bones. Somewhere _she_ could see some things of fractured and broken statues of what were once….beasts.

Deia whimpered a couple of times, _she_ couldn't hold it in anymore, it developed into sobs once they passed through the supposedly villager's area. The villagers they could see scattered on the ground as if caught in a panic commotion were having the same fate as the Forest's beasts.

"Please, hurry…!!" he could hear tears in _her_ plea. The whitefire horse tried to fly faster in the thick motionless Air, heading to the center of the Land where the white Castile waited in its silence.

They landed on the Castile's outer court on the high buildings. _She_ jumped down even before the horse's feet touched the white-stoned landings, calling out Lyea's name.

Yuy watched his Human disappeared as _she_ turned in the intersection of the corridor. He dismounted the whitefire horse slowly, turning to the city laid out under the Castile, the horse's spread one-wing behind him was as if intended to protect him…or may be to push him down there. He didn't bother to mind it.

…._It's really happening…!_

He couldn't perceive of anyone he knew in the Land. Not even one. His eyes strayed to where the orphanage stood still and silent, just like the rest of the Land was. The only thing still flailing about was the Barrier, he could see it above the many layers of the opaque Stratus. A deep crease appeared between his brows, even the Stratus was dead…!

The only sound of a living being he could hear was his Human's voice in the still Castile. He closed his eyes with a shudder running up his body, and turned to the direction of his Human that was searching for _her_ sister's whereabouts.

--

"_The OWLs retreated when_…"

"…_something they feared of_-"

"_Death_."

".._nothing left, even the soil was_.."

"-_too many dead bodies found_.."

".._charcoaled_-"

"_Dead sleepers_.." (#chp.14)

Yuy walked slowly supporting his body with his hand along the wall. Whispers 'collected' in the space of the Castile plagued his mind ceaselessly, they were heard superimposed with one another that they started to not make sense anymore.

…_.was it me..?_

_..my doing…my fault..?_

Something he'd seen…

…_.the Order of Millenium..!_ His mind denied.

No. Something must have triggered it. Something that was more powerful than Time…

A scream of his Humans' voice snapped him to alert.

--

Deia ran everywhere _she _thought where Lyea would be. First _she_ tried the underground libraries. It might be odd to try the deeper levels first, but those were Lyea's most favorite place, her sanctuary from the Castile's live. The places safer from harm's reach.

When _she_ didn't find her there, _she_ went to Lyea's room, her study, her other favorite places. Then, to where _she_ didn't want to go : their father's room, fearing what _she_'d find there knowing that their father was still helpless and that if ever something happening to him, then, Lyea would be there trying to protect him with everything she had.

Something flashed in _her_ frantic mind. "Where are the Charms…?!"

"Lyea..!! Where are the Charms…?!" Deia shouted to the silent walls of the small corner garden that used to be Lyea's choice of solitude. Then _she_ ran to their father's chamber, already feeling the dread waiting for _her_ there to find. _She_ didn't come across with anyone _she_ knew so far, only several guards _she_'d seen from the whitefire horse's back, down in the streets to the Castile that seemingly heading out. The rest of the Castile's denizens were nowhere to be found, the kitchen was left by the cooks, the maids were disappeared as well, even the yard's workers. The empty stables meant something good, right…?

"Ruéa..!!" Deia banged the double doors open, the inert hinges broke when they were forced to work in their immobility. _She_ already took no concern of the state of the Castile was, finding that everything had stopped working like the hands of time that had stopped ticking, the dead mother-of-pearls layers along the walls; even the Air was…-

The drapes of the bed canopy were down. A cold feeling ran down _her_ spine made _her_ immobile for sometime, only staring at the still bed, knowing that _her_ mind was saying that _she_ didn't want to see it up close. _She_ swallowed _her_ fears and approached the silent bed ever so slowly. Something familiar caught _her_ eyes, hidden by the heavy drapes of the bed that brushed the floor. Those were Lyea's slippers, her feet was visible behind the drapes, as if her body was bended on the bed covering something –someone- that must be unmistakably their father.

Hope flared in _her_ heart, _she_ hurried and swept the drape. "Lye-…!!"

Then _she_ screamed.

--

Yuy heard the horror in his Human's scream. Momentarily forgotten his own demons, he ran as fast as he could to where the scream came from in the dense Air. When suddenly a blast of light blinded his sight and he was thrown back flying along the empty corridor, hitting the far wall at the end of the T-shaped intersection.

He'd reflexively crossed his arms in front of his face, shielding it from the attack. But his eyes widened in shock as he saw his attacker at the other end of the long corridor.

--

Deia tried to make _her_ mind work, despite the scream _she_'d reflexively let out before, _she_ couldn't fathom what was _her_ eyes seeing.

'…_that._.-'

A thought resurfaced _her_ numb mind. -_Did the Air betray them...?__Not ! ..right ? If the Air turned from their side then they wouldn't survive ! The Land wouldn't survive...!!__-_

'…_that….is Lyea's_..-'

Deia reached out _her_ left hand tremblingly, not really realizing its movement, _her_ other hand was left hanging numbly on the drape _she_'d gripped.

'…_Lyea's._.-'

Their father's unconscious body was not there anymore, instead there was left _her_ sister's body from the waist down, ossified and fractured like the things _she_'d seen in the way there. The cut that had severed her body by the waist was clean, like halve of a statue some dork-of-a-sculpture had left there by the sheer of senility.

"Wh…..why…Lyea?" Deia asked dissociatedly to the silent room, _her_ mind couldn't process the scene exposed to _her_ sight. An instinctive sob woke _her_ from the stasis, surrendering to _her_ instinct, _she_ let it move _her_ in a desperate run to _her_ own chamber.

"Sisteeer..!!" _she_ called out frantically. _She_ didn't remember getting into _her_ room, or how many times _she_'d called out to her, of not finding her in _her_ bedroom nor _her_ bathroom. But the sight that shocked _her_ to awareness again was _her_ sister's upper body floating in the water of _her _small pool that _she_ was witnessing at the time.

Despite her severed body, she was closing her eyes peacefully, with a pleasant little smile on her lips, as if she's asleep and having a pleasant dream. Her left hand was holding the crystal of Skirr on her chest. The cut body was glassy and clear-colored, as if made of crystal or ice. The water of the pool was shimmering with its relaxed undulations, casting reflections of rippling white lights to the walls and _her_ wide eyes.

Deia got into the pool's water slowly, half aware of the water that was still 'alive' that had let _her_ in. It was half-thighs deep as _she_ had grown taller in the last years. Slowly, tentatively, _she_ brushed the white face in the water with the back of _her_ fingers first, then with _her_ thumb, _her_ fingers. Feeling a little drop of relief as the face was still felt pliant to _her_ touch.

Then the smoky-blue eyelashes fluttered open several times. Her eyes were dreamy focused on _her_ face above the water surface. A gentle smile bloomed on Lyea's lips. (…Dearest….!), her voice was resonated with a soft ringing sound and the ripples of the water's surface.

(…You're back..) her words were slow as if spelling them out.

Deia smiled, trying to conceal _her_ feelings. "I'm here..!" _She_ lifted her sister's body in _her_ hands, instinctively knew that she shouldn't pull her out to the water's surface.

Lyea blinked her eyes several times as if sleepily. (You shouldn't have come back this early…)

"…I can't help myself…"

"I'm homesick…!" _her_ snicker almost sounded like a sob, _she_ covered it with a pity smile.

(..mm-hmm…? I was having a dream..) Lyea drooped her eyes gently with another smile.

(….you were dancing with Yuy..)

Deia snapped _her_ smiling lips shut trying not to let out another sob.

(..and everyone was ogling at the both of you….with dumb faces…) she let out a soft chuckle. Deia snickered with a wet sniff at the end. "Yeah….?"

Lyea smiled happily. (…then you had this smug face.. saying that _he's MY Beast..! Anyone wants to come near us, come singed away..!_)

Deia chuckled, "What's that, that doesn't even make sense linguistically..! And I don't have that kind of face….!"

(Just a dream of mine…)

"Well, you should've seen it live..!" Deia sniffed again before widened _her_ smile, "…their faces..!". Because if she were with them in Viricidia, then she wouldn't be like this.

Lyea seemed to know _her_ thought, she shook her head lightly. (..but then I wouldn't have this dream…!), as if knowing that wasn't what had happened in the reality, and she was just trying to cheer _her_ up.

"But..-"

Lyea stopped _her_ reason of denial with another gentle head-shake. Her eyes pierced deeply into _her_ mind. Deia gave up, _she_ bit _her_ lip trying not to cry openly.

(Listen…), seeing that _her_ Dearest shook her head vigorously with brimming eyes, Lyea pulled the silvery-purple braid in the water gently with her right hand. (I might not be able to say it again if you don't listen..!). Deia answered with a sob.

(Don't blame yourself…!)

(Guilt is something you should never feel…) she took sometime to collect her strength.

(Live on…!). Deia whined weakly at that.

(Never take your loved-one for granted… never take your own feelings for granted..)

(…you know,…. I love your smile..!)

"…Lyea…" _she_ whispered her name pleadingly.

(…my Blessed-one..) her eyes unfocused and turned glassy.

"…please..!" _her_ tears rippled the water's surface several times. Then, as the surface calmed to still, and the shimmering lights dimmed down, Deia saw the crystal Skirr that stuck up from _her_ sister's grasp turned opaque white, the white speckles in it died, and so did the water.

"No..!!" Deia pulled _her_ hands with Lyea's body along, but finding that _she_ couldn't as if it was being held in the grip of a dead-water. _She_ heard the cracking sound of the water hardened from the edges of the pool centerward, and jumped out of it just in time as the dead-water managed to catch the end of _her_ riding-dress at the back. Deia pulled _her_ dress roughly, heard the broken solid-water to shards releasing the cloth as if hearing _her_ beat up heart broken to pieces.

Then in the quiet air, _she_ heard the shattering blast somewhere in the Castile.

--

Yuy held his breath as another blinding light struck his body again, this time it was powerful enough to blast him through some walls. He landed on his four between pieces of stones and splinters and white dust, his beast eyes focused to the source of the blasting lights. Light wobbly steps he could hear in the quietness of the dead Castile…he didn't perceive anyone in the Land, then why…?!

A bigger blast turned everything in its way into dust.

…_Sir..!_ His mind echoed before his sight turned perfectly white.

--

Deia intended to run to the doors of _her_ chamber, but a powerful wave that followed a big explosion blasted _her_ flying backward several steps and made _her_ fall to the floor bracing _her_self with _her_ hands. _Her _shocked mind realized that someone was still alive in the vicinity.

"Wave…the Charms..?!" –_but why attacking..?_

_She_ ran as fast as _she_ could with _her_ protection aura of purple light shrouding _her_ body seared every now and then by the wave of the powerful blasts. And _her_ paranoid mind told _her_ louder and louder with each blast that _she_ never encountered that wave's signature before; that it was not consolidated Harmony which the Charms usually used, the fact that it was so powerful and _she_'d never perceived its presence bothered _her_ greatly. Who could have that much of power to hide that great a presence..?!

In the back of _her_ mind, _she_ realized that there was no quake after such a blast would only meant that the power was such a pure focused power that could disintegrate everything it touched.

"YUY..!!" Deia yelled as _she_ saw the large hollowed space of the Castile's walls, it almost looked like a building's void, only a little more twisted in the spacing design. _She_ blinked as _her_ mind adjusted itself.

The Beast was on his knees with one hand instinctively extended to his front fending off the attack, his other hand supporting it behind the back of his opened palm. The floor under his feet was still remaining while a void was clean cut around it along with its environment to his far back. There was something of a shield-like blackthing floating if front of his opened hand; it was shaped like a layer of carved sculpture above everything else, but it proven that it could fend off such a powerful blast despite its fragile quaint appearance.

'.._That's…. a Void's shield..!_' –_thank god you have that voidcraft..!_-

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE..?! GET OUT!!"

Deia jumped a couple of steps behind, that was the first time _her_ Beast ever yelled to _her_, at the top of his lungs, even; though it was not his Voice (_she_ thought _she_ might drop dead if he were to use it to do that). _She_ stared wide eyed and forgetting to breath. _Her_ eyes instinctively snapped to someone that was attacking him.

-_Odin..!_-

"Od…-!" a blast blinded _her_ eyes to white but _she_ could see beams of shadow, like the opposite of lights penetrating the darkness through wholes, reaching _her_ body as there was a silhouette of black armored body flashed to _her_ front. After the light died down, _she_ could see it more clearly that the Void-shield was in fact a black space that interconnected in a type of seal configuration. _She_'d seen that configuration somewhere…

"NOW..!!" Yuy grabbed _her_ body by the waist from _her_ front and fled in his beast speed. The jerk brought Deia back to the present, and as _she_ was carried backwards, _she_ could see the attacker that was following behind them.

Then their bodies plunged down as _her_ Beast jumped off the landings. The Odin that pursued them to the edge of the landings up there was blazing with power. Such a pure power _she_'d never encountered before, twisting and furling all around his body like a dancing-shroud of misty lights.

….the misty lights had two inhuman eyes..!

"Tha.." Deia tried again _her_ choked gasp, "…that's Odin's talisman-sword..!!". Odin might already be dead, it was Her that was moving his body and attacked them, perhaps Her last wrath of loosing him…

They landed on the orphanage's front yard after several inhuman jumps. The whitefire horse was already waiting there, and Yuy threw _her_ body on its back without seeing back at _her_ again. That what feared _her_ most.

"Yuy…!!" _she_ called out as _she_ saw him running away leaving _her_.

"Go now!!" he barked.

"But I won't go alone..!!" _she_ barked back stubbornly, turning _her_ body in _her_ seat so that _she_ was facing the horse's behind.

A burning-black prussian eyes answered _her_, as if angry that _she_ was being a brat whining a childish demand at such a situation, it made Deia clamped _her_ mouth shut in fear for a short second but _she_ regained _her_ composure in no time. Thinking that _she_ didn't care even if he hated _her_ for being a brat, what _she_ really cared was his well being. So _she_ gathered _her_ stubbornness _she_ could muster and shouted vehemently as the whitefire horse started to flap its one-wing to blast from that dead ground.

"I won't let you get away from meee..!"

"COME BACK TO ME, YUUYYYY…!!"

The possessiveness in _her_ voice was more thick than the inert Air, and the emotion…he almost thought he heard _her_ shout was reverberated in the air. He was grateful enough that someone actually thought of him more than their own values. That's enough for this lifetime…

He could still hear his Human's voice calling his name from the lengthened distance. He smiled to himself.

…_time to repent my treason..!_

The burning mist of light came blasting in the silent Land his way, and landed crushingly on the orphanage's stone roof. A pair of blazing inhuman eyes focused on his being, and he bowed respectfully, knowing that it was his past-omission that would always hunting him even now, even for eternity; even after so many lifetimes he still had the debts to settle. That he was a sinner would never change.

…_Loucc__ä (1), …thank you for having me in your presence…!_ He thought to Her as his eyes turned silver.

…_You…!!_ She countered; _How dare you showed yourself in front of Me…!!_

He straightened his body, ..Since _I am to blame, You'd settle it with me now..?_

A sudden flare of the burning mist, as Her inhuman eyes in the mist turned blackish-red, She launched at him using Odin's body.

--

Deia shuddered on the back of the whitefire horse, trying to quell _her_ worst fear down. The Land lain silent in its stillness all around _her_, _she_ tried not to feel the freezing feelings crept up _her_ core. Looked up, knowing that _she_ already missed the Stratus's lights and beautiful patterns _she_ watched all _her_ life there.

"…why…, Mother…?!" _she_ cried and gripping _her_ arm sleeves tightly _she_ called out again at the top of _her_ lungs looking up to the opaque Stratus for the Mother that never on _her_ side, even knowing that the Land never really took _her_ as Her child. "Please…" _she_ whispered, "…please return him to me alive.. please..!" and pleaded with all _her _might over and over.

((…what are you crying so much for..?))

The indifferent dull-resonating voice greeted _her_ close at _her_ front. _She_ snapped open _her_ eyes, finding two feet stood above the space of the whitefire horse's behind, floating in the air; looking up at the maid's face that was all too familiar to _her_.

"Kyllea…!" _she_ muttered in alert.

Kyllea smiled although it didn't reach her eyes (it never was for as long as Deia knew her). She could clearly see all the thoughts flashed in Deia's mind since they were written all over _her_ face like a textbook. That made her let out a soft chuckle, even though it sounded meek, seeing Deia's alarmed expression.

"Lyea…." Deia started after taking a pause.

((…Milady said that you'd barge in to this shell no matter the Barrier let you in or not…!)), her wine-colored locks still fluttered by the speed. She looked sad, if that word could be related to her in any way.

((So she wanted to stay and wait you here to tell you to get out of this dead place..))

"……why..?" Deia asked softly with confusion.

Kyllea already knew what _she_ meant was why she didn't do anything to _her_, not about Lyea's circumstances. She let out a sighing smirk, ((Why..? Of course because Milady paid your life with hers, now wouldn't it?))

((She told me to let you go…)) there was something seemed like left unsaid after those words.

"Yuy..?" Deia asked with wide eyes full of hope and fear mixed together, Kyllea almost felt sorry for that child.

"Yuy..?!" Deia asked again harder, feeling like _she_ almost wanted to rip that meek smile from her indifferent face. Kyllea reached out her hand slowly to Deia's head, _she_ almost dodged it but kept still.

((…you've grown.. at last..!)) the hand stroked _her_ head gently, almost affectionately. It confused Deia a little more. _She_ didn't even realize it that they already passed the Forest and nearing the Barrier.

((Try to keep be true….?)) it was almost sounded like a goodbye, Deia sensed it and gasped, something almost formulated in _her_ mind to say but _she_ couldn't find it in words. So _she_ reached out to the maid trying to hold on to her, but the Barrier met up with them from behind _her_ with such a great speed, _she_ widened _her_ eyes.

((…., blessed-child…!)) a gentle parting stroke on _her_ cheek, a sad relieved smile. And all Deia saw was that her body crashed violently on the Barrier's wall and broken like glass into thousands shards and shimmering dust, they penetrated the Barrier and shot out to clear a safe path for _her_ and the whitefire horse.

Deia took a long gasp feeling the loss all too well. The dust felt warm to _her_ empty opened hand, it dissipated by the boiling Barrier's claws like snow melted in the desert's air. Deia whimpered hard once, and snatched _her_ hand back, held it close to _her_ chest and embracing it with _her_ other hand as if a wounded precious pet _she_ tried to comfort. _She_ didn't understand what was happening. In the end _she_ was the only one left alone and hurting, that was _her_ nightmare every night that _she_ tried to survive from all _her_ life. Deia sobbed and cried silently, if the odds even left _her_ alone then what good _she_ kept fighting for, right?

"…come and kill me (2)….!" _she_ said brokenly, "Yuy, come and give me my death -I don't want to die alone…!"

"..please come to me….." doubled over on the horse's back, _she_ prayed it repeatedly. The whitefire horse glanced behind to _her_ but did nothing except kept running widening the distance between _her_ and _her_ Beast separated by the dying barrier.

--

Deia didn't remember much of getting off the horse's back when they stopped eventually next to a spring in a small forest. Nor did _she_ remember of getting into the spring and drowning _her_self. All _she_ knew was that _she_ wanted to let go… and that's what _she_ did.

--

The moon's smile looked bigger on the dessert.

….._ Loucc__ä, …thank you for another night with me…! _A pair of green inhuman eyes stared the moon with something like a yearning feeling etched in them. He sensed a man approaching silently from behind by the sound of the sand grains.

"Master Trowa, Master's awake and asked for you…!"

He stood and nodded once, walked fluidly to the biggest tent. Q smiled as he saw Trowa's face as he opened the tent's flap to get inside, keeping his eyes on the tall boy as he sat kneeling beside his bunk on the carpet. Trowa stroked his cheek gently with the back of his fingers as the way to ask him his condition. Q had already familiar with his unspoken language, he smiled wider.

"I'm fine, now….thank you for being there when I called you.."

"You broke three ribs and fractured more bones than my fingers could count, and so much cuts…!" his whisper was soft and almost submissive. Q blinked half sleepily.

"I'm sorry to give you a hard time…" Q said with a deep sincerity shone in his blue eyes, Trowa didn't say more to that and just indulging himself at stroking Q's forehead while his other hand clinging to the blanket like a lost child. "How's the dragon..?" Q thought he had to divert his tall companion's mood to something else.

"…cracked..", there was a flash of alertness in Q's eyes, but then it changed into a suppressed euphoria and calmed again.

"So the dragon will re-hatch soon…" his blue eyes looked deeply into the space above him, his small smile somewhat relieved but sad.

"…you saved the dragon in time..!" at that almost defeated whisper, Q smiled gratefully.

--

There were bubbles floating up slowly from around him as he sank deeper, the sound of the water soothing his light sleep. A soft warm voice calling out to him heard reverberating in the water.

((…_time to wake up now…..!_)) he'd heard that voice before. That was the voice he heard constantly while he was kept in the box, something that accompanied him in his shell.

((…_yes….please wake up now…._)) it encouraged him deeper. He tried to flutter his heavy eyelids open, but they felt like they were glued.

((…._you should wake up now, my Obscury…!_)) the voice sounded patient carrying a smile. He felt warmed inside and savored that feeling of not being alone, and took his time to try to open his eyes with a peaceful feeling.

First he saw that there were lights surrounding him in the water. The bubbles were shining as they traveled up, his eyes followed them to the surface and found a mirror-like reflection of _her_ on the underside of the water's surface. The bubbles made it as if it was raining around _her_ as they popped by the surface's film. _She_ was smiling gently. _Her_ silvery-purple hair flowed freely around _her_ like the finest silk, and _she_ was stretching _her_ hand reaching out to him.

He was never alone….

He was just never realized it that he was loved, and protected.

_Her_ smile didn't falter, and he tried to reach out to _her_ hand. The water felt warm… and he let himself got pulled up.

The surface broke as he gasped his first breath long and deep, arching his back to let his lungs filled with as much air as they could be filled. The first movement out of the box felt like a slow motion in thin wrapping embrace of the gentle night air, he sank back slowly until the water reached his chin and the undulating surface brushed his slightly opened lips as if trying to kiss them.

He blinked once slowly, letting the water fell from his long eyelashes. As the sheen of water cleared from his eyes, he could see the forest surrounding the spring, lighted by uncountable fire-dragonfly pairs as they flew in the air in couples. The spring was like a natural well with blue-light moss illuminating its wall of rocks. The forest canopy was cleared above the spring letting the moonbeams casted softly on him as he looked up to the sky.

He tried to move his feet, and the water drifted him gently to the edge where he could feel the rocks formed almost like a staircase. Stepping on it one by one, he got out of the water. The spring's outer wall was raised about a waist high from the ground just exactly like a manmade well, and he sat there for sometime savoring the feeling of dirt and grass with his toes for the first time in his life, before realizing there was someone in that place besides himself.

Turning his head a little to the right, he found a boy in black armor staring at him with unreadable deep stare half covered by a tree. The wind played with his brown locks as if caressing his face, while the small lights of the fire-dragonflies made his prussian eyes sparkled by their reflections every now and then.

He blinked at him, feeling that he had to say something to the other boy, and not knowing what he should say first, he only utter one word softly.

"Duo…" his voice felt silky on his tongue, and he liked the way it sounded. The other boy in black armor didn't move, but he had a very gentle stare in his eyes at hearing his first word even though he didn't smile.

"Heero…" he said just as softly.

--

The dragon awakened that night, somewhere in the desert.

There were surprised shouts from the men witnessing it as the blackstone egg broken and bright light exploded and wracked the tents and sands, while they ducked onto the ground.

Trowa held Q's body in his embrace, wrapped in his blanket. His hand and head covered Q's face from the wild swirling wind and sands. It lasted only for a few seconds, and then left white cold mist fogged lazily in the center of the explosion, screening someone standing motionless with long black hair cascaded everywhere and even piled on the dry sand.

And all eyes stared unmoving by its suddenness. Feeling their heartbeats racing and mind gone blank..

--

_She was crying brokenly, she knew she sounded and looked pathetic but she couldn't help herself; if so, she thought she could be the most pathetically cry-baby and let anyone come to her rescue._

_But she felt bad that Lyea was started to whimper too seeing her crying like that.._

"_What is it, Ankhiie, what are you crying for, hmm..?" their father scooped her up into his strong embrace, and he sat on the oriel's ledge holding her small body. She couldn't speak for sometime as her crying was still too much for her 3 years old self to handle, so her father stroked her back gently and kissed her forehead every now and then, waiting patiently until she left sobbing and hic-upping._

"…_I'm sorry.." Lyea said eventually gripping the end of her father's jacket, standing near his feet._

"_And? What was it about..?" he asked patting his older child's head. She looked down for a moment, then looked straight to his eyes. "I told Deia her naptime story as usual..", she paused hearing a strong sob from her younger sister, "…..it's about Obscuries….!"._

"_Oh…" he smiled, "What about Obscuries, Ankhiie..?" his younger child only hugged him tighter to hide her face._

"_Pretty Obscury said goodbye…" she mumbled softly after pausing sometime._

"_Goodbye?"_

"_Mm-hmm….came to my window to die…!"_

_At that he lifted his blue brows up, he could guess what the matter was, seemed like Deia found a dead Obscury-morpho by her window sometime before Lyea told her the story. May be this morning when she just got out of bed. "They will die eventually..!"_

_Deia shook her head vigorously, "But what if he's my Obscury…!". The wide purple eyes wetted by tears looked straight to his eyes, and he blinked._

"_Your Obscury…?"_

_Deia looked down to her hands on her laps, "Obscury was searching for me, and when he found me I didn't open the window, and he died because he was so tired and I betrayed his efforts of searching for me…!" she pouted, another bead of tear fell from her eye. They both noticed it that she had referred to the butterfly as a 'he'._

_The Lord muted for sometime. Betrayed the efforts? He should talk to Odin for teaching the knight's virtues to a 3 years old girl sometime soon. Now where did this 'searching for me' come from, he sure knew that there was not such a thing in the story. He turned to Lyea, who shook her head slowly. Apparently she didn't know where Deia's assumption of that issue came from, either._

"_Why would it searching for you?" he asked gently, a little fear of the answer biting his mind._

_Deia played with her fingers for a while, looking like she was carried away in another world's pace. "Because Obscury would tell me my real name…." she whispered dully –just one flutter of his wings would be enough...if she were there when he was still had his life she thought she would have witnessed it; the name written in the Air that was her real-self's only. _

_There reigned a heavy air after her admission, she remembered her father cocooned her in his embrace, and Lyea's hands held her hands gently. And they whispered something, but she couldn't remember what was it about.._

He woke up with a start silently, eyes snapped open but didn't jerk. A steady but slow rhythm of inhuman heartbeat heard by his right ear, and there were two strong hands embracing him gently, a black cloak covering his body, and a firm chin guarding his head. He could hear the soft crackling sound of fire burning tinder and twigs somewhere near, but the warmth emanating to his body was from the body which was currently hugging his.

He blinked once, sensing that that someone was actually awake and knowing that he himself finally was awake too. Feeling a little too comfortable but somehow awkward, he intended to say something instead of moving, but he found that he couldn't find any appropriate word in that kind of situation (because he actually didn't want their cuddling arrangement to end, and just hoping that the someone would cooperatively pretend that he was still asleep).

A soft snicker which somewhat sounded relief heard from that someone, and he knew that that cuddling party was over.

"Are you hungry? I'll fetch something for you to eat..!". That voiceless whisper was all too familiar to hear. He looked up as the black armored body stood up, wanted to stop him from leaving but finding that his hand wouldn't move to grab him. "Wait here, I won't be long." And with that he was gone in liquid strides.

Looking around after following him disappeared from his sight, he found that the sky already lit up by the sunlight, and the spring was not far from his sitting spot. Bits of memory from his awakening came back to his mind.

"_Heero…" he tried the other boy's word with his tongue, he suspected it was a name. Were they introducing themselves? "No more home…?" he asked, even though his mind was numb he could still remember the situation to some extent._

_The prussian eyes stared deep and somewhat sad, "I…." he paused for a while. He thought that maybe he'd say something like I'll bring you to my home, but somehow he knew that the other boy too didn't have one. "…am….Home..!" the brown haired boy looked like he was pleading silently._

_He stared the other boy for sometime, and half aware walking to him, resting his head on his firm chest covered by the warm black armor, and whispered "Tadaima…". There was a loud thump coming from his heart under the black armor, but the other boy whispered back silently "….okaeri.."._

And after that, "….I fell asleep just like that…!" he said to himself with a gasp.

"Aaaggh..!! That was so stupiiid…!!" he ran his hands trough his hair, realizing that it was dry and kept in loose braid behind his back. He stared at the honey-color tresses between his fingers, and frowned. '…_did he braid it for me…? Felt so cheesy..!!_'

He pouted to himself and let his hands fall down, and as his face turned downward too he realized something worse. '_I'm (still) sitting like a GIRL…!!_', he jumped to his feet. A blush colored his face.

The black cloak fell from his shoulder to the ground, he was sweating nervously with shame, knowing that he was still wearing _her_ riding suit….and the water-tree's heart on his chest as the _fake brea_-…. His face exploded red. Half panic he rushed to extract the liquid-like substance from his chest to his left hand, it was clear color when it left his skin and balled in his palm; he willed it to form an accessory of wrist-band alike around his wrist and after it solidified to metal-like, it changed color to his taste of black.

Fell down sitting on the ground again, he sighed out deeply. "….he must think I'm a joke….!" He said to himself, and became aware again that he's STILL sitting like a girl, let out a curse under his breath.

So he rearranged his sitting pose, thinking what a boy should sit like, but aware that his body was not manly. "…I'm a joke to myself..!", he pouted, but continued to try another manly-sitting-pose, crossing his legs and hunched his back, put an elbow on one of his knee, and one hand (masculinely) rubbing his chin with a smug smirk on his face. "This's definitely not a girl's sitting pose, right..?!" he said satisfactorily to himself.

A silent sound of dripping water surprised him, as he turned he saw the black armored boy under a tree watching him with amusement clearly etched on his face. He grabbed the black cloak and doubled over using it as a cover, "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WATCHING ME THERE…?!" he screeched with shame.

"You sit like a yakuza…!" he said in an amused whisper as he approached his shelling spot.

"What..?!" he poked his head out of the black-cloak-shell, a fine blush still coloring his face.

"Water and some fruits and edible leaves..!" the black armored boy laid out in front of him on a scarf. Then he patted the head affectionately, "Silly Human..!".

"….thank YOU..!" he said sarcastically.

"Welcome..!" he answered sincerely even though it sounded flat as usual, and sat on a fallen tree trunk near him.

He stared him sitting there from the end of his eyes, and slowly he straightened up his body; the riding dress was like the usual long sleeved long-dress only with the cut high from under his chest line and made it open at the front, so it didn't really look like a dress. Under the riding dress were a body-tight suit of legging and shirt and light transparent vest. _Deia_ hated frills, so _her_ dress was never too girlish, anyway. He gulped while staring at the armored boy openly now, he was never…_Deia_ was never ashamed that _she_ was a _girl_ who was actually a boy in front of him, so why now HE should feel self conscious being a boy in a girl's dress..? The Beast didn't look like he cared that much…!

…..Right, now that he didn't show any cleavage from under the low neckline….! That thought made his face burn brighter again, he wrapped the cloak around his body with both hands. The Beast was staring at the fire, though, seemed like he took pity on him and acted that he didn't care about his inner turmoil.

"I'm not laughing, so stop feeling self conscious..!" he whispered flatly.

See?! "Umm…I'm not laughing, myself, but I still feel like a joke…!" he turned his face from him in a snap.

"If I'm a bother, I'd leave you alone for a while…"

"You know I'd be more bothered if you do that…!" he pouted to himself, still not looking at his companion. There were a lot more things he'd wanted to discuss than this… Like Odin, for instance; or about the whitefire horse, or about what happened….or about himself…

Sensing that the Beast's eyes glued to him for sometime now, he couldn't help it and said, "I'd dye it to silvery-purple again if you'd like….!"

"It's better like that..". His heart thumped hearing that. "There might be some ones searching for somebody with your previous descriptions, so it's better looking different from what they already knew…!"

"Oh, …right..!" his face fell. He didn't really want to bring the topic about _Deia_ and the real-him because he didn't want to be compared with _her, _since he wouldn't be able to take it if the Beast like _her_ more than him, right..? But some words of appreciation would ease his mind a little, right? Oh, but by thinking like that he acted girlish, wasn't it? He shut his mind and just contentedly nibbled at the food there, now that he thought again he realized he was hungry.

The fruits tasted like fruits, and the leaves tasted like sweets. There was a fresh-menthol taste in the red leaves with a little sour taste, he frowned at the mixture but held himself from asking what kind of leaf was that. He glanced at the Beast, blushing again at finding him staring with a fixated stare at him, and turned his face away shyly. Wasn't it the Beast who was usually being shy…? Why was it they're being the opposite now…

There was a soft snicker coming from the Beast, he didn't really see his face whether he did it in amusement or mocking instead. "….You said you're not laughing…!" he accused.

"I'm not..!"

"….stop sensing my thoughts, then!"

"Alright..!" there was a smile in that word.

"Like, I mean it…!" he turned his flushed face to the smiling Beast's face.

"Hai! Hai!" he lifted up both his black gloved hands in surrendering gesture.

"Beast, I really mean it…!" he said louder realizing that the Beast only seemed more and more amused at his antics, and he's feeling more and more exposed.

--

The sun was high, and the sands were hot as they all fried by the sun's heat. He had the Beast's black cloak around his shoulders and hooding his head for a bit of shelter against the sunlight. The Beast had retracted his full black armor, or more like re-shaped it to a plain tight black suit like what commoners should wear. But he thought with the body like his he should knew himself that the Beast still looked like a soldier-like guy…well, may be a mercenary as they were openly looking like homeless boys (that was, if nobody misunderstood him as a girl since he's still wearing _the_ riding-suit).

"…sooo…. What should I call you with..?" he tried to make a conversation, mostly to distract his self conscious mind.

"Anything you like is fine..!" he whispered breathlessly.

"Ummm…we can't use the name we used before, right…? For precaution's sake?" he fastened his steps to catch up with the Beast's wider ones, seeing that he didn't wait for him nor adjusted his steps with his.

"Anything you like…."

Feeling a little ignored by his reserved attitude all of a sudden after they started to walk out of the forest, he held the Beast's sleeve from behind. "So… _Beast_ is fine…?!", he just wanted to get a reaction out of his stoic Beast.

"I call you _Human_, right?"

A little upset at his brush off attitude, he grabbed his hand with both hands. "So, so…what was that 'Heero'-thing back then…?!" a little flush colored his face.

"Once you can call me that, I'll call you by your name…!" actually he secretly intended for his Human to cling to him just like that, he just didn't show it outright, knowing his Human was still not feeling stable enough inside.

He thought his Human sensed something out of him somehow, since he suddenly stopped speaking and just stared up to him with his large purple orbs. After a very long pause of desert winds and hot blazing sunlight and dry grains of sands, he quietly talked again, looking at his feet. "Do you miss _her_…?"

The Beast didn't answer for a long sometime, before he did answer, he thought he should make it clearly himself first; "…I….do miss _her_…!". The Beast didn't say anything to that admission, may be he didn't know what his Human meant, so he continued. "_She_ was the only one that I could see from inside the box…!", he smiled a little to himself.

"….It's like…. seeing someone through a two-way mirror. That _her_ reflection was me…trapped on the mirror's surface in a room just enough for myself". The Beast kept silent, so he took it as a cue to add more. "I'd dreamt about you one day…!"

He took a deep breath, "…you were…dead…in my arms…!" He felt the hand he was holding pressed his hands a little to his body side at that, he felt grateful that the Beast cared. "Hmm…it was dark around as usual, but I could see you just as perfectly. You were –I guess I could say, about two years younger than you look now…?" He made it as if it was a question in the end, and stared up at the Beast's face beside his, waited for him to acknowledge his open stare.

Smiling as the Beast's eyes encountered his, "I'm glad that it didn't turn out being a bad premonition…!" Then chuckled a little, "…but I did make _her_ anxious enough to explode the Castile, didn't I..?!" That was the incident with Odin's talisman-sword and _her_ misunderstanding at the situation. His purple orbs dimmed a little, "Well….since my anxiety and blackness were what all I could let out to try to reach out to you at the time…!"

He batted his forehead to the Beast's shoulder once lightly, "I'm sorry to cause you the trouble back then…!", he said sincerely, knowing that the Beast had almost given up about them like twice, even almost letting his own life –if only he hadn't reached out to him inside _Deia_.(3)

Seeing from the end of his eyes at Human's blissful expression, he slowed down his steps gradually, not wanting him to realize it that he did that and divert his seemingly comfortable feelings. Already noticed it that his Human…_this_ Human-self was…..-_how do you put it into words?_ _…innocent?_

Like a new-hatched Obscury…beautiful and fragile.

His Human's purple orbs caught his staring at his face, and he smiled innocently at his stoic expression, looking like he was in a joyful bliss just by the fact that he cared enough to stare at his Human's face like that.

It unnerved him a little, the fact that his Human's smile could make his face flushed openly. So he turned his face away from his smile. "What..?" he already realized it, "You were staring..!"

"Nothing…" At that kind of situation his Human's former-_self_ would bug him for the answer satisfying to _her_.

His Human stared him for sometime, he still had that blissful expression on his face even though his smile changed into a curious pout. "…okay..!" he said with a generic smile, realizing that they were walking with a more relax pace now, and it made him happy that he was allowed to cling to the Beast's hand like a spoilt child.

The Beast thought that they had to re-familiarize with each other all over again. May be he, on his part, should do that…. just for pre-caution's sakes… He gritted his teeth, there were dull throbs awakening from inside his chest.

--

They had breaks a few times during the day, since they didn't really know who they were running from, so the Beast had said that they better not looked suspiciously-in-a-hurry and just looking like strays. Human had unexpectedly handled the sunlight okay, except that he seemed to be very disturbed by the heat; but in that desert, who wouldn't? When they had to stop in the place where there was no shelter, the Beast had refused to sit; standing stubbornly between the sun and his overheated Human who was sitting on the sand. His Human had realized it that he was sheltering him with his shadow. That was endearing to him that he had literally hugging his Beast's legs through their rest time.

Sometimes they found some rockery plains, and had their rest much enjoyable. The Beast had prepared some food from the forest for him, and as usual he himself refused to eat. Saying that he didn't need it that much; and just satisfied enough with a gulp of water or two. His Human stared him with something akin to curiosity when he'd said that, but he just glad that his Human didn't probe more deeper, and just left the issue as what had been told.

Nearing nighttime, the Beast had beginning to act a little guarded towards him, although at the beginning he thought it was just his imagination. But the Beast had openly avoided his touch once, when it was already sometime past the dusk and the sky had livened up by the star lights. He'd asked whether there was something wrong, but the Beast had answered with generic excuse of being a little tired and that he himself should better rested too.

Staring at the fire the Beast had lit for him against the night desert's chill, he started to get anxious with the passing time of being silent.

"….Beast, what's wrong…?" he asked again silently, feeling a little rejected, and it was heard in his subdued voice.

"Just rest well…", the Beast said from the opposite seat, "….I'll look for some water for tomorrow ..!"

Seeing that he really got up and left, he fast grabbed his sleeve. "I won't drink too much so we'd have enough supply. Don't leave me…?" he begged.

The Beast was stunned for a second as he didn't expect to hear the later part, then he smiled a little, "It's not that, water supply in the desert is important. You never traveled in this climate before, and even if you don't want it, I would force you to drink more…"

"But you don't-"

"I'm used to it! And I won't leave you…-don't be saying that…!" he pried his Human's hand from his sleeve gently.

"But you are-..!" he tried to catch his shirt again but the Beast's hand already caught his wrist first.

"Here…" leading him back to the fire, he drew a circle on the sand around it with his other hand. "Don't leave this circle. You don't know what dangers there are in the open desert..!"

"Then I'll come with-"

"Stay!!" and that sounded final.

Pulling the hand from the Beast's grip, he sat in the circle, keeping his eyes to the crackling fire. "Alright…". Stole some glances at the Beast's back when he left him by the fire alone, his inner perception already recognized the Beast's enduring-face since late afternoon.

The Beast walked like usual when he left his Human alone. He knew he was treating him a little too harsh, ordering him like that, but it felt more and more miserable on his part and he couldn't show it to his Human. Not when he's still being innocent and fragile like that, he was still not tainted by the world and Time, and he sure didn't want to taint him with his curse. He glanced back from the end of his eyes, very aware of his Human's far sight; he could still see the light of the fire himself, so it's still not far enough to hide.

Just after he finished that thought, he found there was a pitched-canal down beyond the rocks in front of him as the rocks made natural sand-blockade. He stared at it for a second and then slid down into the slope almost half-consciously. Fell seated on the sand resting his back to the wall of sand behind him, he gritted his teeth as the pain resurfaced again. Breathing hardly a few times, he clutched his chest as the craft-plate bit into his organs for the –nth time that day.

…._stop it…! I'm not feeling for Human, so don't_..- Another sharp bite made it clear that his reason was overruled; he hugged his knees in front of his chest tightly. Trying to control his breath and focused his mind elsewhere, but the craft-plate seemed to know his divertive tricks all too well, it throbbed even more painfully inside his chest.

_Kuso…! I'm not cheating on You, stop torturing me…!!_ He scrunched up his face feeling like he wanted to cry at his helplessness, hugging his head with both hands as he hid his face between his front and knees. His heartbeat thumped erratically and the sounds deafening his ears from the inside, he failed to perceive the sounds of falling grains of sands from the top of him.

"Share…!" his Human's voice sounded excited and worry at the same time, the Beast widened his eyes in surprise behind his knees. "You need a share don't you..?!" he slid down the slope to his side.

Cool gentle hands touched his trembling feverish hands and tried to lessen the dead-hug on his head, "Come, now…I'll share so you don't have to hide it from me..!" he was begging persuasively. The Beast's trembling was more of fear than of pain, he swung his hand and pushed his Human's body from reaching his, seeing he fell back sitting on the sand from the end of one eye. "Plea-..!"

"NO..!!" the Beast barked. "Don't touch me..!" his body trembled openly, "It hurts more when you touch me….!!"

His Human fell kneeling on the sand as he was going to jump him again but stopped at hearing his reason. "Because I'm not _her_..?" his voice was even and his eyes wide with comprehension. The Beast almost flinched at those knowing eyes, he really thought he was going to be the one nurturing this time; that he didn't want to let his Human face the harsh reality yet.

"…I'm sorry….!" He said almost brokenly, "..It's me, not your fault…I'm sorry…"

"But I'm…-" he countered gently.

"Please…!" the Beast's voice was trembling now.

"….your Human, right..?"

"…just please leave me alone..!" he sobbed once, hiding his face from his Human.

Feeling his hands being empty, he gripped the riding dress tightly, staring at the sand at his knees. "….what if I'm the one pleading at you, instead..?"

"…please….-" that little voice was small and chocked and in the verge of tears that made him had to surrender to his Beast's plea. It must be hurting more than unbearable now that he almost gave in to the urge to cry.

He stared at the miserable heap for some times. "Alright..!" loosening the cloak from his own shoulders, and covered it on his balled body. "But you will get better when you come back to get me in the circle. Or else I will force to share with you….seeing that being like this you wouldn't even have the strength to reject me, anyway…!"

"You got that…?" The Beast kept silent, and just tightening the grips on himself with his trembling hands. His Human took it as an acceptance, and climbed up the sand back to the circle by the fire.

--

It was almost dawn when he did come back to his Human waiting for him. Even though he was still half aware and still felt the dull throbs in his every heartbeat, he noticed that his Human had a wide black-cloth as a blanket around him. The edges of it were ragged almost like it was purposely tattered, and even though it look like it was a thick enough material, he noticed that the cloth was carried by the gentle breeze with ends almost floating up without gravity.

So it's not really a cloth….

His Human realized his stare and pulled the black cloth tighter around his body. "……I…have privileges.." he said gently after a long silence, not looking at the Beast's eyes; he was the source of _her_ power, anyway. The Beast stared him a little while longer, letting his Human noticed it that he's no longer as miserable as he was last his Human seen him.

Patting the sand next to him, he opened a hand to his Beast, asking for his hand.

The Beast stared at it for a few seconds, and put his own hand on his open palm. His Human gently enfolded it, all the time staring at his face to see whether he was in some kind of pain and hiding it, then he took the Beast's hand to his cheek and rubbed the back of it with his face like a cat. Feeling that the hand was not as feverish as it was that night, he was satisfied enough and pulled the Beast to sit next to him.

"…what happened?" that he really felt he should ask, since he already thought of some things about it and they haunted his mind all night.

The Beast silenced for the longest time, as if he didn't have the answer himself. As they left silent, he indulged himself just playing with his lethargic hand in both his.

"I am….cursed….." he eventually answered with a small breathless whisper.

"And so…?" his Human was still staring at his hands playing with his limp one. "…you don't want to share your curse with me..?" It was said with an even tone that it didn't sound as harsh as the thing it implied. But the Beast flinched a little at that.

"…why not?"

His Beast didn't say another word to that, so he let out a deep breath to himself and gently kissed the limp hand over and over; feeling the Beast's stare burned at him with such turmoil inside his deep prussian eyes.

"Can't I be your Home, too….?" He mumbled that to his limp fingers, and then kept the hand in his embrace flat to his body, staring forward at the colorful sky as it began to get lit up by the dawn.

--

_Do you know how to spell Archantra with the ancient letters?_

_Lyea asked that one day, showing the ancient writings for Archantra._

_It literally says Sad-flower…. means flowers for the deads…_

_Do you know why? …Because this whole Land is a large tomb….._

--

…_aren't we all cursed in our own way….?_

--

"Well, well…. What's a flower like you doing in such a deserted place like this..?!" a man said coming out from behind a large rock. His face was half-covered by the turban's tail circling his neck.

He blinked once. He knew it he should've changed the riding dress before someone mistaken him as a girl….well, now it's kind of too late to think like that.

"Are you lost, Miss..?" another man came out from behind another rock and smiled, he had round black spectacles on his nose, half covering his eyes. It almost reminded him of a certain Charms with the same spectacles adorning his face.

But at that innocent question he jerked visibly, remembering something said somewhere before(4).

The men seemed misunderstood his body language, and they backed off a couple steps. "Ah, don't be afraid of us, we're just nomadic travelers…!"

True, they didn't look like robbers….but how many robbers have he seen his whole life up till now..? Close to…..none? Then he noticed one of the men's stare on him.

"Hey…aren't you an Arch-…" There was a silent grating sound of a sword being pulled out of its scabbard, and the man stopped talking immediately as he felt the cold steel on his neck from behind. His friend swiftly drew his sword but stopped halfway, seeing from behind his black spectacles that he already lost his chance before he even realized the attacker was coming from behind them, since the sword on his friend's neck was actually his. They put their hands up in surrender.

"What are you doing straying alone in this place..?" the attacker's whisper was smooth and breathless, and they could hear it because they were in close enough range.

"Umm…sightseeing..?" the Archant said averting his eyes from the one behind them, but he seemed like he could hear the silent whisper just as perfectly. There was a heavy pause, and the Archant looked straight to him, "Ow, come on, Beast…this place looks kind of like a giant maze, and I just wanted to really go sightseeing….!"

Another heavy pause, and they could even feel the power of staring-down glaring from behind them. The Archant in front of them tsk-ed once and folded his hands in front of his chest defiantly. "Yes, well…I did intend to play a little hide-and-seek with you; which seemed like isn't working with your senses and all…!!"

The attacker grunted once but didn't move.

"Alright, I'm sorry I'm not as obedient as I should be. Now, would you please give the man his sword back in his scabbard..?" At that they blinked, perhaps as their affirmation at the last part of the Archant's words. The attacker grunted again once but did as he was told, slid the sword back into the scabbard hanging on the back of the man's belt.

They let out the breaths they unconsciously held.

"I'm sorry, you're not hurt, are you?" the Archant's eyes were wide staring at his, looking worry and regretful, and he felt a loud thump coming from his heart as he countered that open stare. Before he could utter one word, he heard the one behind them snorted, and then he could only opened both his palms and shook his head in negation.

"We're sorry, too. We didn't mean to scare you…we should have introduced ourselves first…!" the spectacled man spoke for him, realizing such a powerful possessive-vibes coming from the (latent) attacker behind them.

The attacker stepped forward from behind to the Archant's side, ignoring them. The man who had his sword up his neck managed a side glimpse at his face as he passed by his side, he was quite enchanted by the attacker's deep blue sharp inhuman eyes. And felt disappointed when he ignored them, so he tried. "You won't find any village in several days ride around here…!"

That seemed got the attacker's attention as he stopped pulling the Archant away by the hand, and looked behind at them. He was surprisingly still in such a young age and with somewhat fragile appearance himself, the men thought. The one with black spectacles pushed them up his nose to hide the glint in his eyes, a light flush on his cheeks. He noticed the Archant's eyes already noticed the flush on his face, he averted his eyes from them.

"You see, this place is the Crocodilian-back..?" at two incomprehensive pair of eyes, he continued again. "This should be the well-known passenger's city in Eyränd, this site was suppose to be in the middle of it…?"

They seemed to get it now that there's no more of anything city-like around the rockery site. There was only sand everywhere. The two boys shared a stare between the two of them, and the man knew before they thought of anything he better give them option which they couldn't refuse.

"We have caravans with our troupe, why don't you join us until the next civilization?" The deep blue eyes were staring at them with query. They didn't really blame him since the open place such a desert was a dangerous place with nowhere to run if you ever being chased.

"We have women and children along, and we could use another man to help with the rough jobs…?" the other man added, staring at the beast-boy.

The blue eyed boy seemed to ponder about it a bit too seriously, while the Archant stared them and his companion in turns. Seeing that he took a serious thinking into it, the Archant decided for them both just as easily. "Thank you for your kind offer, we're fine with just the two of us..!" he gave a winning smile.

The men's faces fell.

"Where are you travelling to?" At the boy's question they lit up again. "North-east…?" they pointed with their fingers in unison.

"You don't want to, do you? You don't have to force yourself just for precaution's sake…!" Human tugged at his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "It's better traveling in large numb-.." the Beast tried to counter.

"That's why I'm saying just for precaution's sake..! For you, it's enough with just me, right?!"

The Beast silenced for a few seconds. "But you wouldn't have to sleep in the open again…!"

Human seemed like he was going to retort hotly, but hearing his reason, he clamped his mouth in a pout. "I'm fine..!"

"Plus we don't have food supply…"

"There's no complaint about eating the insects and mosses, and other things you gave me…!"

"But I don't want you to..!"

"…you said they're protein source. You could eat those, why couldn't I..?!"

The Beast didn't say anything. There was almost a pout on his thinned lips behind the cloak's shoulder wrap. Human sighed once, and smiled. "You know, I'm not a spoilt child. Never was. That's why you don't have to spoil me…!"

"Aaahh…We have other beasts with the troupe..?" the spectacled man added, "If you worry that you would stand out…." and he left it at that. His friend nodded persuasively at his side.

"Where's your troupe?" the boy asked, his query stare had turned to generic-alert eyes.

"A couple of dunes there..!" the spectacled man pointed.

"…..that's far..!" the Archant muttered, staring at the dune they pointed.

"We found a still surviving underground spring there, and the both of us were just scouting this site before the troupe could come here for a rest."

"Thank gods, no more recycled-water..!" his friend said with a tearful smile.

"Recycled-water?" the Archant asked with wide curious eyes.

"Water supply is for women and children, men drinks recycled-water…!" the spectacled man said with a strange smile.

"…from urine?" the Archant asked again.

"Aagh, d'you have to say it openly…?! Recycled-water is recycled and _still_ water…!!" the men sported a red blush on their faces. "And we ARE men…!!" his friend added. The Archant laughed pleasantly at that.

And with that, the men won the persuasive contest…

--

The caravans arrived after about an hour and a half, there were camels used as the rides for the men, some older children rode donkeys, and there were some animals he never saw before used to pull the caravans. He was sitting on a rock at the higher level from the ground, watching as the troupe lowered their charges and set up tents and fire. Everybody seemed busy, he thought. Then he spotted his Beast lowering some barrels from one carriage, he smiled at the sight, he didn't know that him being absent for only an hour or so to other people's company could really make him miss the Beast.

He caught another beast's eyes from behind one tent, and nodded in regards. The beast then disappeared behind some caravans, and he too couldn't spot his Beast between the busy troupe's people. He squinted in search, and spotted the two men waving their hands at him with goofy grins on their faces, he waved back a little. Now he thought they already realized it that he was not a girl since he spoke the first time, but they still acted like that…perhaps because of his delicate appearance? But wasn't it being a little suspicious they acted like that..?

"Hi, there..!" a girl's sound from behind made him jump in surprise, he didn't even hear the steps.

"Hello..!" he smiled a little shyly.

"There you go..! The desert sure is a tough place, isn't it?" the beast gave him a wooden mug with the sliding lid covering it, which he accepted while staring at the beast's face.

The beast chuckled a little at his open stare. "You never saw a beast of my-kind before..?"

"No…" he answered half distractedly.

The beast had dark skin with golden curls at each side of the face, with long metallic-blue furry ears protruding vertically from the cloudy locks; the shiny fur glinted in the sunlight. There was a cerulean gem on the middle of the forehead. The body-tight black sleeveless turtleneck showed (very clearly) that the beast had a male body, except for the lithe waist showed as the little piece of cloth was short only to a little lower than under his chest-line, leaving his firm abdomen bare and the pattern formed like the left-halve of a 'Y' around and under his belly button for everyone to see, and his sexy swaying hips might be saying that he was a dancer. He stared down at the shawl with tinkling crystal-beads at its ends wrapped the hips low covering the top of a very baggy red pants showing the small ankles with a pair of anklets of beads and tiny bells (–that quite surprised him as the bells didn't chime when the beast approached him from behind, or was he too absorbed looking for his Beast?). He didn't wear shoes with his toe nails long and pointy clawing at the grounds, instead only wrapped his middle sole part from his ankles like a tourniquet. And then back up at the supple muscles of the beast's slender arms. Then at the beast's face staring him with an amused smiling face.

"You have a girl's voice…!" he said lamely. The beast blinked once, then laughed loudly at his reaction…long….even doubled over bracing his body on a vertical waist-high stone near his standing spot.

"Ummm…I'm sorry….that's not very polite of me, right…?!" he jerked with a burning shade of red coloring his face, realizing what he'd done and said; luckily the beast seemed like an easy going type, and open-minded.

"That's okay…" -laugh- "…that's the first time someone ever conclude that…." -laugh- "…after giving me a look over….!" –more hysterical laugh-

"I'm…really sorry…!" he felt his face going to burst in flame, anytime now.

"No, no…!" –ebbed laugh- "…that's really funny…!!" the beast eventually stopped laughing to only chuckles, wiping his laughing-tears, still clutching his belly with one hand; there were intricate body-paintings on the back of his palm almost to his shoulder. The patterns caught his attention instantly, and almost like being half-enchanted he reached out to the hand on the beast's belly and touched it with his fingertips; a mesmerized stare in his eyes.

"…pretty….!" He said with a fascinated smile as his fore finger traced the swirling pattern. The beast watched him with an even wide stare. "..'Like it?"

He snatched his hand back, nodded bouncily with a childish smile. The beast smiled a maternal smile; at that he chuckled shyly to himself, holding the wooden mug with both hands close to his chest.

There was a large leather collar around the beast's slim neck, or more like neck and one shoulder, clasped in loose loop almost as big as a belt size, although it looked like even though the beast put it around his lithe waist it was still too loose. He followed the violet eyes stared surreptitiously at the collar with dangling large piece of clear crystal on the chest. The clear crystal reminded him of something similar only smaller in size, dangling by an intricate thread from a girl's waistband. The violets focused back at the leather collar, as it stood out once someone saw the beast's appearance. "This…?" the beast smiled, fingering the collar. "Sometime we traveled to where humans are still a bit not too familiar with beasts, this is to differentiate us from Wilds. So we wouldn't be chase by hunters and traders…?" he tried.

The large violet orbs blinked, there was still confusion in them, but it seemed like he grasped the main idea. "…sorry..!" he didn't mean to intrude someone's space. The beast chuckled.

"My name's Rh:yssé(5); if it's hard to pronounce just call me Rice..! I'm naturally from far-west." There was a purring-stop in the way he said his name, most humans couldn't pronounce it like that, though.

He paused a little, "Unnh… D..Duo.." he said awkwardly.

"Or just 'Human', right..?" Rhyssé said understandingly, "Your beast said you're still uncomfortable with strangers..!"

"Umm, ….not really, it's just that….." Duo stared the mug down a little guiltily.

"Hahaa..! I said it's okay!" Rhyssé smiled wide showing his long fangs, fanning the uncomfortable-looking Archant with one of his slender hands. "It's hard being away from home, or being without one. Most of the troupe's feel that way. But it's good to have company sometimes, right?"

"I guess…" Duo gave a small sincere smile, "Thank you for having us..!"

"Never mind, I kind of a little tired with the attention of being the favorite beast, anyway. Besides, it's good that we have someone with strength to guard the extra caravan..!"

"Favorite beast..?" a little possessive tone tinged his words.

"Hahahhaa..!! Jealous already? Don't worry, it's just that children like beasts naturally..!"

"Oh…" Did his Beast could handle a flock of children using him as a living-toy like merry-go-round for instance..? (since beasts were much stronger than their parents or adults they could play with) He never imagined that, but he thought his Beast's impassiveness would keep them away to some extent.

Rhyssé watched the Archant's expression clearly showed on his face, with a delight smile. He could already smell his presence from down there on the sands, and it intrigued him to see the Archant up close. Just looking once at his Beast, Rhyssé knew that the Beast's Human must be a unique person; but this Archant was beyond his expectation, being so innocent like a new plain paper. He's almost like a baby just got born yesterday with that body of an adolescent. No wonder he caught a territorial-warning in the Beast's eyes back there.

"It's spring water, we stocked it a lot. So you could drink it without worries..!" Rhyssé pointed the wooden mug with his chin.

The Archant dropped his face staring down at the mug still with its lid close in his hands as whatever his thought immediately cut off by Rhyssé's soft words. The beast watched amusedly at the Archant's blank face. "Really..! What did those goon-scouts told you about recycled-water, anyway…?!" he chuckled with a purring sound back-voiced his breaths. It was a pleasant sound.

"Really…?" he just had to make sure.

"Yes!" the beast said with certainty.

"Okay… thank you…!" although it still sounded as though he's not really convinced, but he slid the lid to the side as he noticed that it had something like rotation-hinge just above the mug's handle; and took a sip.

"…'right?" Rhyssé asked with a wide smile.

"Yes…!" the Archant smiled sincerely.

"Alright..! I have some works to do now, just sit here while we make the tents up. Don't worry about works, your Beast said he'd do the chores for both of you. Hmmm… I want to be loved like that once in a while, too…!" Rhyssé said with a suggestive smile. At which the Archant just blinked, that made the beast laugh to himself at his questioning stare while he disappeared from the site.

He pondered what Rhyssé had said; _being loved?_ A little flush colored his cheeks as he repeated those words over and over. The cooling dusk winds helped him cool down the hot-sensation on his face, but he felt there were small fluttering butterflies in his chest as he thought about the beast's words.

"Human…" the soft whisper from his side made him jump and spilled a little water to his laps. The Beast creased his brows a little at his jumpiness.

"What…?" his Human asked with face a little flustered as he caught his eyes for a fraction of second, and then avoided them.

"Something wrong? Is being with strangers..-?"

"No. I'm fine…just thinking a little, nothing worth talking about…!" his Human intercepted his question, and he knew that he was hiding something; but not really something bad, he sensed, so he let him off this time. Right now there was something in his mind himself….

He waited for a while, watching his Human's face who was trying to not countering his eyes. "You remember one of the scout-men called you 'flower', right…?" there was hesitation in his voice, he didn't really sure he should talk about it with his Human, but he wanted to be careful.

"Yes…?" sensing the hesitation in his voice, his Human looked up seeing his eyes.

The Beast bent and whispered silently in his ear, "That's what they use to call a Harem's inhabitant…so please be careful with them; they smelled different from the troupe's people..!", while his hand wiped the spilled water on his Human's laps with his cloak.

"Oh, okay…!" right now the closeness was what felt more by his senses rather than the words in his ear, so he didn't really pay much attention to them.

The Beast pulled his body and walked back down, "They gave us a caravan to use, so you could come down now. When I'm not around you could just watch over the caravan's charges in it…"

He watched as his Beast cued him to follow, so he jumped down from the rock he was sitting on still with the wooden mug in his hands. He forgot that he saved some of its content for him, and he'll make sure that he drank it.

Another thought popped up in his mind; _what's a harem…?_

--

--

Something like 'senior', or 'lady'; an honorary title to call someone respectfully (from the root of the Fairs' language)

…..didn't mean it to sound like Relena's dialogue, but it did, hu…..? (haaha…-enduring laugh)

He referred to the incident where they _shared_ the first time.

Seemed like he heard it too from inside _Deia_ when the gentleman-like guy asked _her_ that…

…saru made up from 'rasé', it's a type of (small) fox in saru's language


	21. 20 fullmoon dance

whiteshade of blackness 'gaku 21 apr, 2008 User Normal A-Net7 2 5 2008-10-28T22:02:00Z 2008-10-28T22:02:00Z 28 12796 72941 Deftones 607 171 85566 11.6568 6 pt 2 false false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

**whiteshade of blackness  'gaku****21 apr****, 200****8**

_warning : mention of violence/slavery implied_

**# ****20     ****Fullmoon Dance /Oozing Scales   **

_The most absurd things came up when you thought you could see logics clearly, of which was the reality; meaning the things near to impossible were the things you thought most likely not ever going to happen, right…?_

_Was that make sense…..The words, I meant…_

_Well, I was confused…still…. _(1)

There were those pleasant sounds of laughter ringing again, heard from the rocks not too far away from the caravan circle; sometime a happy shrill followed now and then. They were waving the paper pinwheels in their small hands, thrilled when those things let out the high pitched whirs by the winds.

There was a little boy about 5-years old who was holding his neck like a leech attached to his back, and his twin sister using his crossed legs as a comfy chair while he made the whistling pinwheels for them; which seemingly something those children had never seen or play with before. He made the whistler from the dry seeds of some desert plants that were scattered around the rocks site; he suspected at least those people had never known that those seeds could be used to make sounds like that. One of the children kept asking so many questions one after another at his side; satisfied that he learned something new for every question answered. The others were running around joyfully with their new toys in their hands. Their adults kept an eye on them from where they were resting or doing other activities. Perhaps they still didn't trust a new beast with their children; or rather…_shouldn't they suppose to not trust a barely known beast with their children…?!_

There was a knowing purring-chuckle from the side of the caravan in where he seated at the front, the already asked question again of "Jealous, already…?" heard with the same tone like a déjà vu.

He creased his brows lightly, "Should I?" that was to himself, actually.

"Naah, they're just brats, they won't steal your precious beast away…! –or cook him for dinner..!"

He meant it as a rhetorical question, but it was answered anyway. Now he couldn't help it but thinking about that. "Ummm…, Rice..?"

"Yes, D..?"

"Do you thi-…. What..?"

"D should be your initial, right? If you think I would call you 'human' in front of your beast and end up in shredded pieces, you gotta be kidding me…!" Rhyssé said resting his back on the caravan's side with his hands crossed behind his head, looking at the far horizon and sometimes took a glance at the flock of playing children surrounding the new beast. Well, there were not really that much of them to be called a flock, but to him one was already dominating his space, so a few more than five running at him being their goal was like a stampede coming.

"Oh…" there was a relief in that little voice, you didn't have to be a beast with super hearing to perceive that.

"What? Satisfied enough with just that fact…?!" the far-west beast chuckled again, deeper. He knew what the Archant was going to ask him, and he knew what answer might calm him too. It's just something with children's possessiveness, that's all; and that Archant was even younger than those children happily playing with his Beast over there, of which the Beast himself seemingly enjoyed their company too much; maybe he was still one of them, too, Rhyssé thought to himself. The long furry ears twitched a little several times, catching unperceived sounds from the air. He could 'hear' guilt rising from the one on the caravan behind him.

"What are you feeling so guilty about? If you want to join them you could just do that…!" he said evenly. Then he could 'hear' the blushing.

"It's not that…!" the voice answering him was trembling at the end.

Ah, he hit jack-pot..! The beast grinned to himself, humans were so easy to read; he chuckled playfully. "Why not? Your beast seemed like he could handle children well; thanx to him I could have a little rest by myself..! I'm sure he won't mind your company…!"

There was a pause, "Well…" Rhyssé could hear him biting his lower lip, "…he told me to stay in here when he's not with me…."

"Wha..?!" Rhyssé stuck out his head from the caravan's side, "You're the Human, and he's the Beast, right…?!" he asked incredulously.

"He told me that….!" The Archant said slowly with a pout while busying himself playing and pulling at the caravan's tassels that tied the bells at the caravan poles and thus making them sounding his anxiety out, looking like an infant who got told to do something he barely understand but obeyed nonetheless even though he didn't want to.

The far-west beast trembled slightly with eyes wide and a hand covering his mouth. He thought he could hear something of an odd sound coming from him, before he realized that the beast was stifling his laughter with all his might. His creased brows got deeper, "What's so funny..?!"

That angry tone was the death blow and the beast ran away from him laughing madly snatching a girl with blankets in her hands by her waist in his way, who yelped in surprise as he took her disappeared behind a far caravan.

He could still hear the beast's laugh from somewhere. "Wha…what's with him, suddenly fleeing like that…?!" he asked to no one trying to divert his realization from his burning face.

As the laughter ebbed to an almost a sob-like sounds, the girl spoke. "You know, Rice, it's not polite to use a girl as a cover for your face, like this..?" Her dangling feet tapped his knees lightly.

"Yeahh…" the beast sniffled once.

"What's bothering you?" she petted his gold locks affectionately as she moved the blankets above her head with one hand. He put her down and took the blankets from her hand, hugged them tightly on his chest covering the lower halve of his face, looking at the sands between the girl's feet. "Damn, I hate that innocent face, I want to rip it from his head with my own claws…!" he muttered flatly.

"What's that? Is that jealousy in your voice…? Be careful not to let it out when the boy's beast is around or you'll be dead-meat..!" she chuckled patting the beast's cheek.

"I just hate it, not jealous..!!"

"Yes, yes; you hate a lot of things..!" the girl pecked the beast's nose and turned away.

"Including Archants…!" he said to himself mumbled by the blankets, but she already knew what he would add to her words for she lifted both her hands in the air in the up-to-you gesture. He let his beast nails out, stroking the blankets slowly imagining something he could do with his sharp pointed nails and some innocent face he knew he wouldn't touch. The possessive smell was thick in the air coming from a certain beast since their first meeting; he sensed it perfectly like breathing fire. That was what fueled his hate the most, even though he knew that that human-beast pair were not at fault, and not even related to his hate. But feelings were like a horde of liquid-fire you could not rein with just consciousness, even more if you were a beast with instinct ruling higher than your thoughts.

A dark glints dawned in his crystal-grey eyes as they thinned to slits, if he couldn't touch the Archant than he just touch the beast, right…? He smirked beautifully, wetting his lips as he felt the hunger made his mouth water. –_Yesss…just a little bite would be fine…!_-

The evening moon hung white in the sky. It would shine a perfect circle in a couple nights away; he could feel the instinct stirring to wake inside him, hot and alluring. Then he slowly walked to the biggest caravan hidden alone behind large stones, separated intentionally from the other caravans; it was metal walled and black painted.

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_…."C'mere, beast..! We'll tame you properly..!!" those leering voices haunted his blank-dream again. How they cackled and how they cheered and cat-called and roared._

_His long ears twitched unconsciously, trying to find anything he could hear beside those disgusting humans…._

_A white feather drifted from somewhere above and broke the blankness, he could hear his heart banging in his chest…he didn't want to see in this dream, voices alone were already torturing. He knew that his eyes were already closed even though he tried desperately to shut his sight from witnessing as the single drifting feather illuminating the scene to a dream-quality scenery of winter with snow of white-lights pouring down soundlessly..._

_He whimpered once. Fingers twitched reflexively as he tried to claw the scenery to shreds…. There was a known touch of silky white tresses brushed over his face. He was staring straight into the unforgettable purple orbs; wide and enchanting as they were in their fragility; the thick white eyelashes shaded the glimmers of white-light in those orbs, a tender soothing stare. The slender fingers stroked his cheek ghostly, softer and colder than the snow, as if his body warmth will melt them away._

_He sobbed a couple times…whining as he realized he was reliving his hell again._

_"Are you in pain…?" that fairy-voice asked the same question in the dreams._

_He whined long and pleadingly. The white triangle-shawl covered their bodies, but it didn't feel warm; it was isolating, instead._

_"I will teach you how to hate…."_

_And he gasped and arched his body as there was a sharp pain on his behind stinging along his spine to his entire body. _

He jerked to wake, realizing that he was crying again in his light sleep. That dream was not a nightmare, just a piece of memory he couldn't forget…or forgive. He rose to sit, rubbed his face with both hands hardly, as if trying to erase the after-vision from his eyes; angry at the tears wetting his cheeks without he even realizing crying them out. Putting his elbows at his bended knees in front of his face, his hands circled his head as if protecting it. He knew why he got this upset enough to recall that still unforgiven memory back, it was those large innocent violet eyes and that snow-white skin….!

How he wished he'd torn them out the first time those eyes stared at his eyes when he gave that Archant the water that afternoon. A shiver ran up his body, a deep flush rising on his dark tanned face. He gulped dryly once, realizing that he was aroused just by the thought of hurting that Archant. He smirked to himself; well, what could he say…the fullmoon was close and he already felt the pull since yesterday before he met that human-beast pair.

He silenced his mind for a while. The loud snoring sounds coming from behind his back was a good turn-off, but they got to his nerves when he thought of it. He hit the bundle of blanket at his side hard, the snores choked once but sounded even louder after that. His long earspricked down and he jumped out of the pitch black caravan into a night desert air. The sky shone dimly with star-lights and silky clouds. He stretched beastly once clawing at the nearby rock then yawned humanely, rubbing his left eye with his knuckle.

His ears perked up in alert curiousness as he 'heard' a wrenching pain waves, so thick weaved in the air it was like a blanket shrouding his hearing. He walked soundlessly towards the source of the pain (at least he thought it was the way to the source, since it was too thick to distinguish the directions).

"Rice, beast-patrolling already…?" a man with weapon in his arm asked him from a high rock, he was lifting a mug to the androgynous beast.

"'Night, Led..!" the beast answered half caringly, not even glancing at him. The man chuckled at himself on the high rock, gulping the mug content.

He found a high structure of rocks reclining at each other at their tops, almost like a closed praying hands. But the high rocks were too steep to climb as they were almost stood vertically. Rhyssé stared the tops with a deep frown; he could guess who it was in the troupe who could go in there…

"You know, you should be more discreet with your 'scent' when you're in this condition…! More than just hiding your body!" he said peeking into the cavity between the rock tops.

There was a balled body at the farthest part of the cavity; it was trembling with pains and fever. The 'smell' even bothered Rhyssé's nose now that he was close enough with the one permeating it. A pair of darkened prussian orbs stared him in a slit, they were dilated by the pains and seemingly half aware of his surrounding.

"Can I come in?" Rhyssé asked already stepping inside. There was one rock structure that lied almost horizontally inside and served as the floor like a bridge crossing the hollowed large natural well; and as the beast accidently kicked a small stone into the dark hollow, he waited quite a long time until there was a small clattering sound from down the pit, it seemed like the pit was a concave hole down into the sands below ground level. He could guess what made the deep large hole deep into the earth like that one; must be a great thing or power fell down from the sky onto that –what might be once a single huge rock; and as the sands at the center caved in, the tops of the vertical high-rocks fell reclining and supporting each other covering the hole at the center.

"Wow, that was a long trip down…!" he sounded none too excited at that fact. A little thought popped out in his mind that somewhere in that site might be some holes deep enough to be the passage for the OWLs to come out from their depths.

The beast walked slowly to the balled figure, stopped and squatted at a respective distant enough just to let him touch the figure's hair with his fingertips if he were to reach out his hand to him. He sniffed lightly at the other's direction. "You're high with fever…! Isn't your-kind supposed to be colder than average humans?"

The feverish prussians didn't answer, it was as if they were trying to recognize whether he was a real being or was just a fever illusion. Rhyssé sighed deeply once then got up. "I'll get you some water to cool down your senses…!"

"….don't bother.." a raspy whisper stopped him, he turned around again facing the balled figure. Noticing that he got an answer, he dared himself to get nearer him and squatted again.

"That bad? Curse-sickness…?!" he asked as he felt the air near the other's cheek with his fingers. An almost soundless grunt answered him. "Your human knew…?"

A tired blink answered him this time.

"He didn't do anything about it…?" there was worry in his voice, so the Beast thought he didn't really accusing.

"…it's not something mendable….." he mumbled with trembling lips.

Rhyssé silenced for a long time, watching the other beast's miserable face he'd hid behind his wrapped hands. "You're like this; that's why you took the offer to join the troupe. 'Right..?" he muttered after a long thought.

There was no answer in any kind, except for the feverish hands tightening in on themselves a little. "…you must have been at your limit persevering this, guarding your human in the desert alone…"

"Is he that precious, I wonder…!"

"……….rything….."

Rhyssé chuckled incredulously, "More than everything…?! You're also lovesick along with curse-sick?!"

He tsk-ed and messed the hair behind his head in irritation, grunting long to himself. "Here! I'm an amulet-fox so my blood can lessen curse-sickness a little…!" Rhyssé offer his inner left wrist with veins pulsing strongly with blood to the Beast.

The sick Beast tilted his head a little avoiding the offered hand. "Hey, I'm not a beast-tamer so my blood won't impact you that way. You don't have to worry-…!"

"…you're in heat….!"

"What..?!" the dark skinned face burnt a little, "Does _that_ matter in anyway..-?!"

He gaped a little after that, seemingly had a thought of his own, feeling the flush hot on his face. "Ca…..can't help it; fullmoon is coming….!" he said lamely, averted his eyes with a pout.

"….must get better before fullmoon…..!" the Beast muttered with a hard face, but his eyes were still only half aware, focusing on something that he himself couldn't see.

"I'm not a mating-fiend even at fullmoon, so you don't have to be that wary…!!" Rhyssé growled flatly.

The prussian eyes closed, there was almost a weary smile tugged his hidden lips. "……'uman hate…."

And with that the Beast fell asleep. Rhyssé blinked several times, scratching his head; his long ears twitched alertly. As he didn't hear 'awareness' he smirked with a happy glint in his eyes; crouching forward, he attempted a lick on the Beast's forehead with the end of his tongue. He didn't awaken the slightest. After giving himself sometime to mull at the taste on his tongue, Rhyssé gave a delight chuckle then purred happily, and treated himself to another lick.   

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There were light knocks on the caravan's door at the back of the carriage. He opened it after fixing his hair a little. "I'm sorry, I didn't disturb you, did I?" the girl Rhyssé snatched yesterday smiled presenting a basket to him. "Breakfast for two..!"

"Oh, thank you, -urmm..!" he answered a little awkwardly, knowing his Beast was not there the whole night.

"He's gathering some medicines at the high-rocks..! Just call me Ell!" the girl pointed to the Crocodilian-back's tops, further into the rockery site. "Isn't he great? He knows a lot of stuffs, even our troupe's healer didn't know much about mosses and fungi that could be used as practical medicines; and to think that those are free while the whole time we had to buy medicines in the expensive drug-stores with such ill-mouthed merchants..!!" Ell laughed openly.

"Unhh….really..?" he just didn't think like he wanted to feel good about the girl's praising for his Beast, what's with her being a stranger (even though she was counted as one of their hosts) but knowing his whereabouts better than he did (the Beast didn't even bother to tell him where he was going or about to do since their joining the troupe's caravan).

"Oh, well…there's water in the basket, and some hand towels to wash your face with, just wet them before you wipe your face with it. Sorry we couldn't provide you some bath in this kind of place..!" Ell said apologetically, her smile got curved at one edge.

"I understand..!" he smiled, thinking of some nice words about having roof above his head and some wall protecting his body from the desert's wind, but he thought he didn't want to sound to be too nice than that since it would sound cliché after a few sentences.

"If you're bored, you could come with me to see around, feeding some beasts in the cages..?" she tried, feeling the wall he'd set from strangers that seemed like started to depress him a bit.

The Archant didn't answer right away; he looked like a bit stunned by the offer. Ell decided that she could just take the initiative of the situation. "All right, I'll come to get you in about 15 minutes..?"

"…eh.." he was about to say some excuse, Ell knew; so she fled.

"If you're not finish by then, I'll wait…!" she half ran to another caravan, disappeared behind the busyness of the morning.

And he still gaped at the crowd.

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Rhyssé tossed around the cloth pouch in his hand playfully, watching the back of the Beast openly; his long ears twitched repeatedly 'hearing' his every move on another rock's top quite a distance away from where he rested his back on some rocks. The Beast had liquid movements he seldom met in just everyone; his moves were so silent that even though he wasn't on the down-wind, Rhyssé had to strain his beast-hearing just to locate his whereabouts without seeing him physically.

"So, you learned medicine seriously..?" the far-west beast asked casually; his ears enjoying the 'sounds' of the other beast's physical vibrations. The sound of his heartbeat enduring his 'curse' didn't escape his hearing, too; he liked that tortured sound hidden well from all's knowledge as well.

"Your knowledge is far beyond the human's about these natural-sources. You're with the OWLs once..?!"

"Yes" flat whisper.

"Oh, which 'scape…?" the beast smirked. "Deep-bottle..?" Unknown to most humans, the OWL's habitation was interconnected with each other by tunnels or chasms, so when humans distinguished the places with directions, the OWLs distinguished their territory with depths. Anyone knew those 'scapes by name would be someone who'd lived in that place once.

The Beast turned his head to the amulet-fox with something in his eyes. Rhyssé smirked wider enjoying his indifferent stare on him, he knew that the Beast wanted some diversions from the subject of the OWLs; that's why he'd open up the subject, anyway. "What…?!"

The Beast didn't say anything for sometime. "…you licked all over my face last night…!" his flat whisper had an accusatory tone in it. That got the fox laugh, "So what? Your pain lessened, weren't they not…?!"

His brows creased a little above his drooped eyelids, a wild glint in his deep prussian orbs.

"Spur of the moment…?" Rhyssé tried lifting his hands and shoulders. "..or curiosity?" Either way, seemed like he was not allowed to go there; he opened his palms in surrender, "Okay! 'Be careful or you'll loose your tongue', right…?!"

As the Beast turned his head back to what he was doing, he asked again. "So, where did you learn the medicines from..?" That's the double-bladed conversation. Ah, he's so cursed with his tongue, he thought with a naughty smirk.

The Beast blew out his sigh; it seemed that he had to answer one of the two subjects, anyway. "One of many who'd bought me..!"

"And who was this 'one of many'…?" the fox played the pouch on his feet like a ball.

"The Collector..!"

He froze staring at the pouch that fell on the rock near his feet. "…..for real?" his voice sounded small. A grunt answered him. Rhyssé picked the pouch with a foot and tossed it on his feet again.

"I heard The Collector could make a living-dead, is that right?"

The Beast turned to him again then approached him with a handful of moss and other things. Rhyssé opened the pouch for him and followed him back down to the caravan circle, with the pouch slung on one shoulder, staring at the Beast's back and 'hearing' his movements.

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He stared unblinkingly into the cage. The creatures behind the iron bars sniffing at him exactly like what dogs would do; at least Ell said they were dogs, for that matter.

"Well, what do you know? They like you..!" the girl smiled behind him while filling the food basin with some grains in the opposite cage.

He furrowed in contemplation. "Really dogs…?" he asked with an unconvinced tone. The creatures breathed his scent through their mouths with tongues sticking out. He blinked. Those tongues were thick and long, and deep colored of grayish purple, licking their own faces and even covering their heads.

"What kind of dogs…?" he asked eventually glancing at Ell, who chuckled amusedly at him.

"Rock-hound. First time seeing ones?"

He nodded bouncily, eyes fixed at the so-called-dogs wide. He thought he heard Ell chuckled again, but he was too engrossed with his staring. The rock-hounds were waggling their short skinny tails with thorny ends, their short and bulky legs might be looked cute if their skin were not so grey-colored of furless hard-skin that made them looked like some bloated cadavers of some things that had been drowned since a week ago. The paws had three long pointy claws facing front, while each of their hind paws had an addition of a long spur facing backward. What really fascinated him was the almost-flat 'armor' protecting the top of their body from head to rear made of something like horn-bone, and the bizarre shape of their heads/muzzles of almost rectangular shape with its front a little slenderer than their skulls. They had no lips covering their long teeth, so to him it resembled a smiling skeleton's bare teeth. And they had no eyes.

"They're originally called Archean-dogs, but rock-hound was easier to remember, right? They're Rice's conquests…!" Ell poured a small bucket of water into the long tub in front of the adjacent cages of different beasts.

"Rice..?" he turned his head to the girl behind.

"Rice is a Wild-tamer; though he didn't want to be called as that. He trained animals for our shows, mostly. But I suspect it's just because he didn't want them to cause any harm to the troupe's people; beasts are protective to their pack, you know…"

"I know…!" he muttered under his breath, mostly to himself. "Wild-tamer..?" he turned to the girl.

"Ah, right. If you still not familiar with them; there are those who are gifted as beast-tamers, and there are Wild-tamers." Ell explained, fingering her chin.

"What is the difference?" that alerted him a little.

"Wellll-…" Ell stared at the low caravan ceiling. "….Wild-tamers tame Wilds, and beast-tamers tame beasts…!"

"Between Wilds and beasts..?" he furrowed his brows a little.

"Hmmm, Wilds are the-kingdom's name, and beasts are the-commoners…!" she sweatdropped at her own explanation.

"That means beasts are parts of Wilds in general..?"

"Unnh…Why don't you ask Rice; or your companion about that? I never had the clear education about that, myself. For me, I guess, if they could coexist with us, they're fine; regardless of their races or kinds…!" the girl grinned, feeling a little silly of her own ignorance, but truth was she never really bothered with that. She was a simple girl, that's all.

He stared at the girl for a while, "….then.. Wild-tamers could also tame beasts…?"

Ell shrugged with a grinning chuckle. That summed up the conversation.   

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Something nudged his numb mind; even though he didn't know what it was, but he let his feet take him to where they want him to go. The winds felt sharp on his face, they carried the smell of something familiar but must-be-forgotten -some voice in the depth of his mind whispered. He covered his hands with the black-cloth around his shoulder, folded them at his front as if he was cold –even though the desert's sun already high; felt the wide cloth fluttered behind his back like comforting strokes.

Something nudged his numb mind, …and he didn't know why…..

He thought he felt something 'brushed' his hearings before he actually heard. Half aware, he tried to hear more of that something and familiarized it. At a turn between the rocks, without even knowing why his feet guided him there, he stopped; an even wide-eyed look on his plain face.

The winds blew sharper at his unmoving body, and he could name that familiar but must-be-forgotten smell wafted in the breeze; it was lust. Eventually his ears let his mind identified the small sounds that were weaved in the air.

It was Rhyssé's sounds of whispers and purrs. He blinked once, as if telling his eyes to let his mind to see. So the fox was crouching on the ground, pinning his Beast who was sprawled on his back, using both his knees by his hips and hands gripping the Beast's upper arms keeping him immobile; while he was licking the side of his face and neck. Ears flattened backwards, lips curved in a slightly open smile, with a very delighted expression on his face.

"…..Aren't I good at doing this…?" he purred the words out. The Beast was silent with a stony face, his eyes were piercingly sharp, but he clearly didn't object what Rhyssé was doing to him. "What? Silence means good..?" he chuckled in his throat.

As the fox started to travel lower to his shoulder and rubbing his face on his shirt-covered chest, he grunted. "…stop that!"

Rhyssé looked up, licking his chin. "But I'm useful like this….-", he left 'unlike a certain someone' unsaid, but he was sure that the Beast knew it hanging in the air.

"It's not because it's advantageous that you devote yourself for…!" he sounded a little upset.

"Oh, so it's an inconvenient devotion…?" the fox nibbled lightly at his jugular.

The Beast caught the fox's shoulders in a flash and turned their position. "It's none of your business..!" he growled flat. The fox tsk-ed, staring up at the face whose shadow covered the sunlight from blinding his eyes, "But you could be more than just this, right…?", then he chuckled without really explaining what he meant.

Then they seemed to realize that he was there staring at them. The Beast turned his head at him, while the fox only angled his face a little. They had the stunned expression of being caught for a fraction of second, then it was hidden just as fast as it came forth.

Rhyssé smiled wide at him. He was staring evenly at the fox's face; his Beast was staring evenly at his face. It seemed that he'd manage to get there without them realizing; or were they too engrossed at their….game..?

Rhyssé chuckled again, seemed like to himself, realizing that none of the pair would take the initiative to move. He felt his own 'thirst' beginning to make his mind hazy, so he wormed out of the Beast's hold as he was frozen in suspense. "We'll talk again later…" he purred, took a fast lick at the Beast's right ear presented to him, and left bouncily humming a song to himself.

That left the Human and the Beast unmoving at their places. Seeing that his Human stood frozen staring at the spot where the fox was once even after he was already gone for sometimes, the Beast called silently. "…Human..!"

May be his instinct reminded him that his Human's former-_self_ was explosive, so he was anticipating such a reaction…..or else, perhaps he'd be disappointed if his Human's real-self was not so ardently possessive over him.

The Human blinked again, he saw alertness in the Beast's prussian eyes. Something bubbled up from deep inside him, and started to make his chest burnt.

There was almost no change on the outside of his Human's appearance. He almost felt disappointed.

"…don't…." a small voice sounded from his Human's direction. "…don't ….lie down…"

The Beast blinked.

"…with anyone…… like that…"

The brown brows curved up a little, so his Human was jealous, after all. "…It's not…"

"He….hurt you, didn't he…?" the violet eyes looked at the ground in front of his own feet, his arms curled up tighter around his body. "……that man….!" His violet orbs started to moisten.

The winds blew hard suddenly for some moments, they felt like sharp stings on the Beast's skin. When the winds died down to soft breeze again, he realized what his human was referring to.     

Then it dawned on his mind that his Human was rearranging the puzzles of scattered memories from his former-_self_ to fit in his frame; Duo's frame, not Deia's frame. And that's why he seemed so colorless at the time.

Memories built personalities; he remembered someone said that in the past.

So, that's what it was…. He smiled warmly at his Human who in all the likelihood seemed like he wanted to dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it, as if he was frightened of him. "You don't have to feel bothered by that. It's in the past…!" he whispered silently approaching him; the thought that his Human didn't feel safe about him saddened him. He took the black-cloth piled upon his Human's shoulders to cover his head with, whispering gently to his ear. "Have you eaten?"

A nod answered him.

"I kept your share in the caravan. I was going to look for you but Ell took me to see the troupe's beasts….!" He almost sounded guilty.

"Was it fun?"

There was a smile in the Beast's words, so he took a glance at his face above his. There was no longer his characteristic little smile there, but his prussian eyes were staring at him warmly. His heated chest felt soothed, but he felt shy if ever his Beast realized what he was feeling, because it felt like a bad feeling -those hot bubbles. He looked down again. "It's not boring….!" His eyes turned brighter a little.

"Good…!" the Beast smiled. Then they walked down to their caravan in silence.

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What if the pieces of scattered memories built into a wrong puzzle-set…? That thought nudged the Beast's mind. Like taking a wrong conclusion from the facts printed in those memory-pieces because he rearranged them in a wrong line? The Beast frowned to himself; he wouldn't let his Human get lost now…

No… he'd let his loved-one got lost in despair and betrayal once…..

He wouldn't let his Human lost like that… again..

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Rhyssé walked by kicking his feet forward one by one, listening to the bells around his anklets jingled with a clear high chime. His lips quirked downward at the ends, ears stretched backward. He didn't want to hear what that prodigious-pair was talking behind him, since it's not really his business; but he couldn't help but feel bothered by their relationship. It's not that he was a racist, no; it's just that….Archants were so…

A girl's shout brought his mind instantly to the surface again, but by then it was already too late to dodge a flying floor-brush. The thing hit the front of his head with a loud thunk. He blinked with a forlorn expression. After that more female's shouts admonished him from his surrounding and more domestic things flew welcoming his arrival in the middle of the caravan circle.

"…Rhhiiiicyyyyyyy….!!!" a boy about 10 came running to him with an ecstatic face; behind him the twins running hand in hand with napkins fluttering by their necks. As he blinked, he realized that almost from every direction the other children racing to get to him, too; his lips curve-twitched up at one end, eyes wide realizing that he was standing in the eye-of-the-storm.

"Rice..!! Reign in your SMELL…!!"

"It's still MORNING, isn't it..?!"

"At least let them finish their breakfast…!"

The shouts continued; there were also catcalls from the men who were sporting light flush on their faces, some of them made a toast to him with their water pouches or mugs; the others were laughing.

"Fullmoon's coming..!! Hahaa…" an elderly man laughed with a pipe hanging on his mouth. That made the fox's face burnt red instantly.

"MINNNE….!!!" a pair of really big bandaged-hands grabbed his upper-arms (and shoulders) and scooped him up away from the children's reach, held him high like trophy in a victorious pose. The children who lost their target whined and jumped trying to catch his dangling feet in vain.

"He's MIIINNE…!" the big-bad-bandaged man roared (even though it sounded like jokingly exaggerated), the children whined more at that and hit the man's knees and shins (they were only that high to his height).

Rhyssé kicked the bandaged face with both feet; "I'm MY OWN, you big JACKASS…!!" he screeched.

The two hollows of eyes behind the bandage under Rhyssé's feet shone red for a moment. The fox shivered with goose bumps visible on his skin, his lips grimaced with fangs intentionally showed.

"…'later..!" the big-bad-bandaged man stowed the fox under one of his bandaged arm like a sack and bouncily walked away to the solitary black caravan behind the rocks.

"What…?!" the fox bugged his eyes in horror. The children howled at their departure, but didn't follow them.

"NNNOOOOOOoooooo……..!!!" the fox's howl could be heard for a long time. "It's still early, I'll be cooked in there by noon, HEEEeeLLppphh…!!!!" he cried from afar.

……did he mention that the black caravan was metal-walled…? 

---------------  

He ate the breakfast from the basket in silence; his mind was concentrating on the feeling of his Human's stare burnt at him from the front of his right side. "Ask me…!" he whispered evenly.

He felt his Human's blink in the enclosed air of the caravan. His Human took some more time staring at his face before he asked in a flat indecisive voice, "….Wild-tamers….!"

That question was not what he expected, so he turned his head to face him. "…' tame Wilds; beast-tamers tame beasts…!"; everyone said that.

"Difference…?" his Human stared him widely.

He cocked his head a little, "Wilds mostly… is what humans called unusual creatures from what they already know of; beasts were the creatures they already recognized…"

"That simple…?" he sounded like he wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"Beasts familiarize each other with their presence; the stronger the presence, the stronger the power possessed by one. It's not something that could be manipulated to deceive another beast; except that it could be hidden if the owner had the talent to hide it from others. Wilds recognize each other by instincts.."

His Human blinked to that. "You..?"

He'd expected such a question, "The Lord referred to me as Wild at first; then he called me beast, you remember…?" His Human nodded once, there was a flash of something dark in his violet orbs about the mention of his foster-father(?), but it cleared in no time; so he continued. "Beasts were mostly considered the already tamed ones; Wilds with some kind of intelligence were considered tame to some extent, thus they were beasts. Wilds mostly used instincts above their minds…!"

"Wild-tamers could tame beasts…?"

"Wild-tamers tame instincts; beast-tamers tame minds..!"

"And after that…? Mind-tamed beasts had instincts left, and Wild-tamers could tame them in turn?"

He blinked to that, "….Ones with pure-instinct could not be tamed..!" he said blankly.

"Nothing higher than pure-instinct means Wild-tamers tame Wilds with instinct, too, is that right..?"

It's his turn to nod. "Beast-tamers..?" his Human asked with a little furrow on his brows; somehow he seemed like he knew that after that what he would be hearing wouldn't be too nice.

"Blood..!"

"Blood?"

"Blood carries power in it, too. Some even considered it thicker than presence…"

"So Rice won't…." that's what the issue was at first.

"No..!" he thought to himself that his own presence was larger than the fox's.

"So,….that man…-?"

_'He was a beast-tamer, or at least he liked to think so...!!_'(2) those words came forward from the distance of the scattered-memories even though he didn't really summon them.

"His blood was dirty..!" the Beast had thought of ending the conversation before it gets to critical zones, but he couldn't find the right end so he had to continue; or else his Human would get suspicious and force the questions, anyway.

"If there's pure-instinct, then there'd be pure-blooded, yes..?" he worried his lower lip slowly.

"Pure-blooded even said to have their ancestors' powers in their blood" he swallowed his food dryly.

"…..Lord of Virion…?" and that was the issue back then.

He blinked again; _where did that come from..?_ Then he groused in his mind at his own stupidity; _of course he knew it, he was there when that human Lord kissed…-_

He swallowed the rest of the thought. His Human passed him the water pouch, still staring at his face. He took a big gulp and sealed the pouch again, his Human's stare was still burning at his face; he sighed in his mind, there's no circumventing this out ….

"…Yes; Lord of Virion…!" He was the kind of pure-blooded that could be smelled just by entering his country, he thought.

"So, what if…-?"

"I'll fight his blood…!"

"You can do that..?" his violet orbs were almost pleading; it pricked his insides seeing that.

"I'll try…., but I won't fail!"

"With what sacrifice?"

He'd thought his Human would be able to see through it; he smirked to himself, in his mind; satisfied at his Human's perceptiveness. "I won't sacrifice you..! And I know you wouldn't let me sacrifice myself!" he added quickly as he saw his Human opened his mouth to cut him. "So if it's ever got to that,…come take me back..?"

There was silence took over the conversation for a long time. His Human didn't show anything on the outside, but his searching eyes seemed to decipher more than his mind could understand at the moment; his stare sometimes looked far away at something encrypted in his memory as 'blackness'. Looking at his violet orbs darkened brought a pain to his heart... _He's not ready yet_…, he thought. He almost reached out his hand to cup the snow-white face to bring his eyes to the present again, but something in his chest was hurting for his Human to realize what he was before this lifetime, so that he could finally stop hurting alone, but he didn't want his Human to hurt for him.

The contradicting pain almost choked him when he tried to swallow the food in his mouth. He gritted his teeth…He should have more control, his mind told him. 

Then, a firm nod. "I'll find you…but try not to leave me..?" his Human said looking straight to his eyes. That had turned from pleading came from the fear of being abandoned, to a request; he remembered it had quite shaken him when his Human pleaded him 'don't leave me' before, by the fire that night on the open desert. Now his Human was actually more serene than his former-_self_, he thought; _may be he'd read him wrong..? May be his Human's-self was not as volatile as he'd thought before? But his hazardous tendency when he was still inside of Deia was real…._ He frowned.

"I'll be with you…!" he said evenly.

"Yes; do that…" his Human smiled; he knew that the Beast was not someone who verbally ardent, he was more to action than words; so if he voiced his action then he'd do it regardless of any circumstances might come ahead. His words were almost as good as a vow.

The thick eyelashes drooped in calmness, and he scooted to the inner side of the caravan's space near the open window with lacy curtain fluttered by the desert breeze, and he curled down on a large pillow like a cat, still watching his Beast eating with his sleepy violet eyes. The Beast watched him back all the while; a thought reflected in his prussian eyes but he didn't care about it at the moment.

Then the breeze lulled him to sleep not long after; for a while he still could feel the Beast's eyes on him, and it gave him a sense of security.

…..the surface was not a hell, he said to his mind…He had not regretted leaving the comfort of the blackness deep within him, he hoped he wouldn't have to.   

---------------  

_…there was never any mirror that would reflect him back in the small round chamber surrounded by the darkness…_

_He never wondered why…_

_An enchantment song heard softly and ceaselessly from somewhere outside, as if an invisible cage to keep him inside. He realized it, but still he never wondered why…_

_It's because he never had the reason to be wondering about anything._

_That was his safe place…the only place that he knew he was allowed to be…._

_That the surface was hell…._

_That thought he knew as a fact disturbed his little piece of serenity; that's right, a little voice clouded his mind; the surface was hell, so don't ever come outside…!_

He jerked to wake, disoriented and feeling a little anxious. There was a familiar vibration coming from somewhere out there; he focused his mind to feel it.

A pleasing sound of musical instruments heard from the outside, he just realized it after some time. Then he realized that it was already dark; it was nighttime, his Beast must have let him sleep the whole day.

In the center field of the surrounding high rocks gathered the troupe's people, it seemed that they were celebrating something. The men sat on wooden crates placed at the outer circles, while the women and children sat at the inner circles, at the very center was a bonfire big enough to make the shadows of the rocks casted on the sands to resemble a line of dancing giants protecting the outermost circle. There was music playing and songs heard continuously, that must be what had initiated the memory of the _chamber_ to rise in his dream; some children and girls were dancing at the field around the fire, there was a distinctive person leading the dance. And eventhough he was wearing a carnival mask, the posture and agility clearly showed who it was, not to mention the long furry ears of metallic blue color that were not part of the mask; the sounds of the small bells at his anklets jingled making their own music as if a song in another language to the troupe's instrumental music, and sometime his clear giggles sounded in amusement at the others' dance; then followed the children laughter. It was an enchanting sight, the fox's dance was.

He blinked his eyes feeling like he's still seeing a scene of another dream.

A round shining object in the night sky made him looked up. The moon was almost in perfect circle, he thought as he observed the ragged rim of the moon that almost gone to smooth round-line; may be tomorrow…

A stare he felt on his being made him look back to the circle of people again. There, stood his Beast from between the men's seats, with a thick blanket wrapped around his body. He stared back at the Beast's eyes, and realized that he was staring at him with a hoping look, almost like pleading; but when he blinked because of the intensity of his stare, the look was already gone from the Beast's eyes and replaced by something that he'd catalogued before as waiting-stare. Perhaps he imagined it…?

He walked slowly to him as he felt the stares of the men around his Beast fell on him, too; he's not ready for being alone under the scrutiny of so many strangers yet, he thought. His Beast gave him the comfort of safety just by wrapping the thick blanket around his shoulders so that they wore it together. He sat in silence beside him, just relishing at the contact their bodies made by the closeness. His head felt high, he was sure there was somebody talking to him but he couldn't exactly hear them. A warm wet finger wetted his lips surprised him, but he didn't jump. He tried to focus his eyes…

"Ginger ale…" his Beast whispered softly at him with wide eyes, then stuffed his own ginger ale-ed finger into his mouth, sucking the hot-sweet beverage clean. He thought he saw the pleading again in those deep blue eyes, accompanied with something akin to understanding. A thought came to his mind that only him could recognize what reflected in his Beast's eyes. That lifted his heart a little. He smiled.

His Human took the wooden mug and sipped the warm liquid. His brows furrowed a little at the hot taste and coughed lightly. "Desert's-dragon..! Strong, ain't they…?!" an elderly man at his side laughed pleasantly with a wide grin. His Human answered with some questioning coughs, at that he smiled. The men near them laughed, too. His Human's cough faltered at hearing them, he wrapped his arm around his Human's waist in the cover of the blanket, sensing his nervousness.

"…iyck'…" he choked a word out, "…ick bites…!" he said hoarsely, feeling the strong burn in his throat that had gotten hotter once the liquid was down. The men laughed louder. "It'll get tamer after a few sips. A good medicine against the desert night air..!"

His Human pulled his head back a little and stared the mug at arm-length with accusing eyes. There was laughter around him, even coming from the troupe's females. He didn't realize it that he was an eye-candy, and everything he did was eye-catching and endearing. "Bad dream..?" he tried to make his Human feel in the present. The violet eyes stared wide with a stunned-like look at him, back to the mug in his own hands, then back side-glancing at him. "No…just something like a memory.., I think…" he mumbled with a little uncertainty.

"It's not bad. It's just…" he searched a word, "…make me cautious..?"

"Hmm.." the Beast hummed flat, looking straight at the fire ahead, sounded like he didn't care but he knew it was exactly the opposite; may be he even thought about it more than himself, knowing his character. That made him turn his head facing him, the sight of the beautiful face from its side this close was a better medicine against the desert's night air, his mind whispered. His eyes traced the outline of his Beast's face, and he felt a sudden urge to close the gap between their faces, just a breath's distance. But his body didn't follow up to the urge; so they only sat frozen like that, feeling the world closed in to just the two of them despite the crowd and the dance and the bright bonfire.

He didn't realize how much time had passed with them sitting there without giving a care to their surrounding, until the bright light of the bonfire casted on their faces blocked by a big shadow, and he saw a surprise in the Beast's eyes which only he alone could recognize. He turned his head to the object in front of them that was blocking the bonfire's light. It was a tall person (at least he thought it was indeed a person) wearing a very loose ragged leather pants and bandages all over his body, leaving only a pair of dim lights on his face that must be his eyes. A pair of big horns on his head stood out from his ragged grayish long hair.

"Yo..!" he said with a grin showing his pointy teeth, looking down at his Beast. The Beast's brows quirked up a little, staring at the man's bandaged face. "Dōzō…!" he answered flatly, letting the man into his guarded-space (of his and his Human's) just for polite's sakes knowing that they were the ones that were allowed into the man's people first. Suddenly the horned-man let out a high-pitched howl, scooped up the Beast by his upper arms (just like he did the fox that day) and swung him in a full circle. The Beast had a very funny expression on his face at the sudden act, stared with eyes bugging out with brows arched almost to his hairline, and flushed face by surprise and shyness, and the sweatdrop…, and he could almost see there were question-marks popping around his head like the imaginary-chirping-birds when you got an extreme headache. He'd burst in laughter if it was someone else and not his Beast…

"He speaks the same language with mine..!!" the horned-man grinned in triumph, with a voice loud enough to make the bonfire to waver. Then he tossed him onto his shoulder and kept him from falling down with one hand under his bent legs, like a grown man and a small kid (-in size, too). The suddenness caught him and he had no choice than to hold on to the man's big neck and around his head, noticing at the last second that he almost bumped his face to the man's curved horn protruding from the side of his head.

He could see his Human jerked to stand with a silly gape; he'd laugh too if he could.

"AKUUUU…!!!!" a high-pitched screech beat them, and a blur of a fox suddenly grabbed at the man's arm holding the Beast, trying to pry it from its charge, his feet pushed at the man's body and leg as their standing ground. "You don't even remember how to speak in your language, you JACKAAASS…!!" the fox screeched higher, seemed more livid at the fact that the bandaged arm didn't budge even though he'd put all his strength to pry it.

The Beast blinked at the thick jealousy cloud wafting from the fox, he saw from the end of his eyes his Human closed his gaping mouth in a click, and he knew his Human was going to say something hazardous.

"…your papa..?" he asked in a naïve voice. The fox's feet slipped from their standing grounds and made him hanging by his arms. Then there was a shrill laughter breaking the night air as the troupe's people fell down from their seats and doubled over on the sands.

As the laughter still continued, Rhyssé could only blinked at his Human with eyes a pair of blinking dots in perplex, still holding on to the man's strong arm. "Wha…?" he gaped out his open-grin showing his sharp fangs. "Whose what, what…?!"

The Beast knew it before the fox actually let his hands go from the man's arm, letting his feet dropped to the sand and launched in a blur to attack his Human while screeching in a foreign language. A big foot stepped on his body in the middle of his launch and nailed him to the sand; Rhyssé was still screeching in what seemed to be his clan's language, trying to swim out of the foot's pressure vainly; he only managed to clear the sands at the sides of his body, looking like a turtle that got stepped on by a naughty big-kid. That was only fuelled the people's laughter more; it seemed like that was almost like some kind of another ritual in the aberrant way, but was likely to be expected to happen concerning their beastly predispositions that the troupe's people seemed had already adapted with (about the Fox and the Demon).

His Human only blinked in confusion.

"It's almost full moon; that's why he's in his worst jealous-sensitiveness…!" the man called Aku grinned, enjoying his small companion sand-swimming under his foot. In the fox's screeches there could be heard 'stupid', 'ero' (that actually was exaggerated since the Demon only sleep above anything else when he's not on his feet), and 'demon' inserted between the foreign words. The Beast blinked, 'aku' means demon, alright…he thought as the man chuckled loudly with a big grin that almost divided his bandaged face in two just several inches from his face, he wondered if the big man could swallow his head in a whole if he meant it.

…_just bite his tongue…_. He thought to himself, picturing if the big 'demon' really do it.

"Haah..?! You said something…?" he asked turning his bandaged face to his. At the same time the Beast noticed the man's lines of shark-like teeth, longer and bigger than his own, and consisted of several set of lines to underline it.

….._or may be not…_ He dismissed the man with a cough-like grunt, at that the man grinned and chuckled making his whole body shook with the deep vibration.

The Beast tried to look at anything else beside him; that amused low chuckle sent more information his senses could perceive aside from just amusement or something akin to homesick-feeling the man showed in the outside. He knew savage-creatures attracted each other with their strengths; it's what lured them almost as enchanting as beauty to humans, or smell to some beasts. This Aku had a very thick 'smell' that he didn't want to cross him anytime soon, ….or later.

If the troupe had someone like him with them, than why did they take them in..? He recalled one of the scout-men did mention about other beasts being with them; but with this kind of beast –which he doubted even classified as one- the troupe wouldn't have to worry about any danger from wild-ones, aside may be some unwanted attention from some hunters –or preternatural ones.

Suddenly he realized that the fox had stopped screeching and sand-swimming down there, the laughing troupe people too had stopped laughing to catch their breaths and there was a tight air of anticipation fogged invisibly around them. Then a pair of hands caught one of his dangling feet around the man's abdomen. He looked down and found a pair of large violet eyes staring openly at the man's face, his hands were above his head because of the man's height; almost like a little child caught a prize his big daddy dangled above him. His Human smiled naively.

"Oh, you want to try to be up here, too..?!" Aku grinned excitedly; he swung his other free hand to swipe the small human to his shoulder too. But a foot at his wrist stopped his hand just before his fingers touch the human's blanket. The two dim-lights under the shadow of the bandage sideglanced at the Beast, finding him already escaped from his large hand, using it as a standing ground to crouch with one foot stretched out to stop his other hand. Then the Beast hissed possessively, a flicker of fire burned in his dark blue eyes. Almost at the same time, there was a pleasant chuckle coming from his Human, as if demonstrating his Beast's possessiveness over himself, and saying surreptitiously that the Beast was his alone; that he would not bow to anyone other than him, and the Beast would do anything for his sakes. Aku stared at the innocent face, and his pleasant naïve smile. The Archant chuckled again to conclude what was transpiring at the time.

And then the Beast jumped down to the sand, took his Human's hand and covered it behind his own back. He looked evenly at the people and nodded once, "Good night!" he said flatly in a soft voice then took his Human back into the caravan entrusted to them.

There was a still air amongst the people, they were staring at the two's leave silently –but openly, of course; Rhyssé crawled out from under his companion's much bigger foot and stood beside his taller body that was blocking the light of the bonfire from him. The fox kicked his lower leg hard several times, even knowing that the Demon wouldn't feel it much; "…You want to have a blood bath, stupid-Aku?! I'll give you one, aho-ero…!!" he'd picked up some curses from a lot of _somewheres_.

The Demon only stared with a stump face (under his bandage, but Rhyssé could 'hear' it clearly). He opened his mouth slowly, "……he…-" but he didn't have the chance to finish his thought; there was a shrill cry from the females in unison.

"....he had a very nice voice..!"

 "How enchanting..!"

"Addictive..!!"

The girls commented openly. While the elders laughed at the sudden turn of wind.

"Is he a knight, Rice..?!"

"He is, right?"

"His Human is a Royal, isn't he?"

"They elope together, hu..?!"

And the swarm of gossiping girls closed in on them. "…Yea, right…!" Rhyssé stared dismissively with drooped eyelids.

"Ow, come on; you can hear it between them, tell us, tell us..!!" some girls said in unison, it almost like a trained play.

"I am NOT telling ANYONE about ANYTHING..!! My ears are NOT for GOSSIPING…!!" he showed them his fangs, shooing them away with his foot but the girls seemed not to mind with his rude act.

"Phah..! Party pooper..!!" the girls left them mumbling their complaints. "..But he didn't deny it that he DID eavesdropping on them..!" one of the girls commented; "…rrrriiiiight--…!" and all of them looked back with dark accusatory stares and conspiratorial smiles. "….but you DID make a move on that Beast, riiight…??"      

Feeling pressured and outnumbered, and a little cornered at the fact that he did actually heard something 'almost accidently' somewhere, and more, the fox barred his claws and hissed. And the girls ran away giggling merrily.

---------------  

He bit at the bread half-caringly, his mind strayed somewhere outside with the others' conversation he could hear clearly even from the inside of the caravan. His other hand brought the spoonful of soup into his mouth. After chewing reflexively a couple of times, he swallowed and bit the spoon carelessly as if it was a pipe.

"…You know…" after taking sometime to think he voiced his thought, "…that they kind of got the majority of it…?" he said mumbling through his spoon.

His Beast snorted uncaringly; that was kind of the opposite of his own reasoning to join the troupe in the first place, the Human thought.

He looked straight at his Beast resting his back on the caravan's wall, lounging next to the caravan's backdoor as if without a care for anything else in the world. "…I thought you made it a great deal about that 'precaution's-sakes'…?" he asked him flatly.

"You'll get your answer tomorrow..!" his Beast almost looked to be too tired to care about making a real conversation; he almost asked him what chores exactly that the troupe had him do that day, and he realized that he himself was sleeping almost the whole day, and that realization made him choked suddenly.

His Beast passed him the pouch as he searched for it blindly with his hand. "Don't worry about it; I'm just thinking a little about something…" his Beast said while he gulped the pouch content. "At least you could tell me what you're worrying about…?!" he blew out the question together with the air in his lungs as he pulled the pouch from his mouth.

His Beast lifted one brow up at his pressing intonation, and stared him a little oddly; he almost had goosebumps with his kind of staring. "…do you feel anything out of the ordinary because you sensed something in the air…?"

….and what kind of question is that inserted in this kind of conversation…?! His mind mocked. "….and, you are implying…--?" he pouted a little at his indifferent Beast who was still staring him with that odd stare.

The Beast blinked once, and his odd stare was gone; he averted his eyes from him and dismissed his own question. "….nothing..!"

He sighed looking up at the caravan's ceiling; "…--especially when Rice is around..?" he asked what he thought was implied in his Beast's question. That got the said Beast snapped his head to face him again; seemed like that was actually what he'd been thinking.

He looked down at his laps, avoiding his Beast's wide piercing eyes. "….Rice had a very nice smell, especially at night….!" he admitted; his senses could perceive it that much, even though he'd been untroubled by it for the most part –except from that day when he found the fox pinning his Beast down, he'd realized it that it was the fox's smell that had lured him there, like an invisible strings pulling a marionette to move. "What do you mean about feeling something out of the ordinary..?" he asked back.

His Beast didn't answer in any kind of form, but his odd stare had shifted to a curious one -his mind translated it for him, so he thought that the Beast was urging him to elaborate more of it deliberately; and so he continued.

"….you thought I should feel something about it..? What…like jealous?" his Beast still stared him evenly, but he could recognize the shine in those prussian eyes that differentiate his mood or what he was thinking at the time. "…or affection…?" he got bolder seeing that the shine in his Beast's eyes told him that he got more interested with the conversation.

"You don't feel it..?" his Beast asked eventually.

"Homeland had more enchanting-smelling poisons that were stronger and more deadly than his smell…." he left it at that. He didn't feel anything about the mention of Archantra or about him not mentioning it by name, and that actually what made him self conscious in front of his Beast, for he averted his eyes. He didn't care if the Beast took it wrongly that the subject of Archantra was may be a sensitive one for him; may be it was in the opposite way.

The Beast turned his face from him, may be acted like he didn't see that one; he looked out from the door's small diamond-shaped window to the desert, the reflections of his glinting eyes stared back on the glass.

"Well…." he started, "…not for everyone. Amulet-fox give away such a characteristic smell that sometimes they were actually used as some enchantments to lure other beasts or Wilds…..like a sweet-smelling flower to honey-bees, or fresh blood to predators…."

"..even the humans could smell it. Innocents ones like children, especially…"

So what Rhyssé had mentioned about being the favorite beast was the result of his own nature..? He thought to himself.

"You asked me once about outsider beasts that would change during full moon…?" That brought his attention back to the Beast's turned face.

"Most of them would be exceptionally active during full moon, especially those which move in packs and hunt at night…"

"….so you mean…"

"We'll have a major fight tomorrow. I want you to rest well today…" the Beast reasoned a little distractedly, he could smell some creatures closing the distance their way from afar, with quite diversities in their kinds, but he knew most of them would be predators.

"Oh…so that's why Rice is touchy since yesterday.." his Beast turned to him with a wide stare, "…he was ready for the big fight defending his pack…!" he concluded it evenly. His Beast blinked, he wouldn't thought that his Human's former-self would see it from that point of view, but sometimes he was still amazed at what his Human would think about something in particular; this-self or former-self.

He smiled with amazement.

His Human minded his dinner back, spooning his forgotten soup; "…Why are you smiling like that…?" he asked half-irritated with a flush on his face.

"Aa…you're right…." he said with wonderment tinged his voice; beasts were beasts, anyway; packs came forth before one's craving, that's why the fox was a bit pushy on him when they were alone, because he wanted to be useful for him in his own way since he won't help him any when his troupe-pack is in the balance. And for being a beast, he himself had to have his Human to see it for him.

"…yes! You're smiling; stop that….!" his Human pressed more his irritation with a more deep flush coloring his white face. He chuckled at him.

"Not funny, Yuy..!" and that's the first time his Human ever called him by name again, his retort sounded the same as what his former-self would say; they were one and the same all this time, anyway. That thought made him a little melancholy that his Human's soul was what he'd lived for this whole time, and that they were never as separated as to familiarize each other all over again; he surrendered to the urge, then; pushed his body forward, took advantage at his Human's unawareness who was trying to not look at his smiling face, and licked his Human's left cheek affectionately once.

"Wha…?!" he almost tossed the soup bowl by the surprise; feeling his face blown up by the hot blush, he screamed what he'd heard Rhyssé said before just to cover his nervousness.

"Don't DO that, Beast, you ero..!!"

And that made the Beast actually pulled back laughing.

---------------  

At the same time outside, around the bright bonfire, some people with ginger-ale and soup and other food dripping from their chins after they blew them by the surprise, looked at the one-caravan direction with suggestive perplexed expressions. Some girls were giggling between themselves.

And there was an explosive laugh coming from Aku who was getting his face-bandage redone by the fox; "…don't move, it will become loose, erroneous-jinx..!" He was sitting somewhere behind a rock sheltering them from the fire light, with the fox stood in front of him and was taller just because his protruding ears were a little longer than the man's horns with his sitting position. Aku grabbed the lithe waist forward to him; "You want that beast, hm..?! You better reign in your craving, he's a much greater jinx than I am..!!" he grinned and the line of bandage Rhyssé was pulling tight slipped from its path into the mouth opening that divided the man's face; he tsk-ed in irritation.

"…I thought I'm already a jinx myself..!"

"Well, you don't know him, do you..?!"

Rhyssé stopped his hand and let the bandage end dangled from Aku's neck unceremoniously. He stared long at the man's two dim-lights of eyes, and cupped the big face with his left hand while he inclined his upper body to whisper very silently in Aku's left ear. "…Aku….." he stopped for a breath, "…he's got a Void's-craft in his body..!"

"….So..?"

 The fox pulled back to stare at the man's face, even though he avoided looking at his pair dim lights burning a hole at his own face. "…don't you think the troupe could use that kind of thing for something good…?" he asked almost lips-talking for he knew the said Beast would be most likely listening to them talking in secret too.

"You mean for show..?" Aku smirked explosively, he didn't lower his voice just because he never really cared about others minding his business. "Forget it! Void's-crafts were cursed things more than your-kind could mend..! And those things would attract their-kinds; I don't want to fight a bunch of Shadows just because you thought you could let people see it up close for some small coins..!!" at the end he showed the fox his lines of teeth for emphasis.

"…But he's fighting it, Aku…!" he wetted his lips, "Don't you want to see what he looks like without that-thing eating him from the inside…?" Rhyssé asked like a little child asking for a toy to his daddy.

Aku stilled at that, "..Oh!" he narrowed his eyes to slits of burning light, "…I see; you just want something to play with..!! And you would even put your pack in danger just to satisfy your curiosity; you thought since they're not really your-kind you could just find another pack to settle in when you lost this one?!" Aku stood up roughly, walking away, but he stopped after a few wide strides. "Grow up! You're not a kid anymore..!!" he added without looking back, then disappeared behind some rocks and the dark of the night.

Rhyssé was left standing still on his spot, staring at nothing where a moment ago he saw Aku's face there. He just wanted to act deviant to some words he heard from the Beast's caravan just before; he didn't want some Archant to understand him more than what he realized about himself; just because they could put things into beautiful words…!

Even Aku couldn't see through him like a thin layer of clear water…or may be he never bothered to. "…damn Archants…!" he growled low, hugging himself with both hands as he felt cold white hands encircling his shoulders loosely from behind. "Damn Archants and their perspicaciousness..!!"

His breaths fogged as his body still remembered the cold presence of the one Archant that haunted him even in his conscious times. He squatted on the sand, hugging his knees and hid his face between them. "…damn you all to human's hell….." he mumbled brokenly.

---------------  

The Beast stared at his reflection on the small window, he could hear what the fox and the bandaged man was talking about; and he knew that the fox had some issue with Archants, that's why he'd let him in his company this day, better than letting him out of his sight and do something impulsively to his Human. He knew the fox's instinct ruled his acts higher than his logics, that's his nature, so he didn't really see him at fault for his tendency towards his Human and his Human's-kind. That's something other-kinds usually find it hard to understand, and took it from the wrong side and judged upon with their own nature-of-thinking.

He turned his head to his Human, staring again with what he knew his Human thought of it as an odd-stare, enjoying his Human's act of being not flustered by it but he could smell his nervousness in the closed air of the caravan. It was rather an enjoyable smell, because it's coming from his Human.

"What..?!" after putting the bowls back to the basket, eventually he reacted with a pout because he knew he couldn't hide his nervousness since the very beginning. His Beast only smiled a little, then back to his staring outside to the desert, enjoying the smell his Human permeating. To him that smell was what more stronger and deadly than any sweet-scented poisons in the sphere, he knew he'd already been dead when he first smelled his Human's scent in the courtroom of the Castile and instead of trying to escape he had surrendered to that smell. Yes, he'd been dead years ago to this creature, that creature just hadn't decided when to take his life from him.

_…lovesick and curse-sick, ne, fox..? Love is the curse!...I just don't hate this curse, so I don't need your help to mend it…_. He thought staring at the brightest star of the north-east, the one used by the troupe to guide them. He heard a silent snore from the direction of his Human, and found him already fast asleep on the caravan floor half curled from his sitting position before. He knew that given the chance, his Human would take more time to sleep to rearrange his scattered memories in his subconscious. He'd worried about the outcome before, but now he thought that no matter what his Human would be his Human still. It's not something critical as he thought before; it's just like a new hatched butterfly, who needed some time to spread its wings for the first time after they were curled in its cocoon for a long time. Archantra was his cocoon….

…_hurry and wake up soon…I want to see you in person faster…_. He covered his Human with the blanket, stroked his chestnut head gently, and called him with the softest whisper in his ear.

"…..my Duo…"

 ---------------  

_In the darkness he stood alone…_

_Staring at his naked feet, curled his toes several times, enjoying the feel of the darkness sipped through between his toes like velvety-water.._

_A soft echo called him soothingly from somewhere on the surface out there.._

_((…my Duo….))_

_He smiled contentedly, loving that moment that that tender voice was his alone, calling his name only…_

_…my Obscury…. He called back_

_And in the darkness he was content…._

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"…So we're going to leave this place sometime tomorrow morning, if there's any damage with the caravans we should fix them before noon, because at high-sun they wouldn't come after us so we would be able to leave them about half a day's ride away.." a middle aged man who was the troupe's top-guard said, he looked around briefly at the people's faces gathered in the circle who were mostly men; his eyes stopped at the Beast's face who still looked indifferent, but his years of living with animals and beasts and Wilds in the troupe enabled him to recognize the thoughtful expression on it.

"You have something in mind, Kid..? Better speak up now while we're listening…!" the man said grinning while biting a bluish-grass that was moving up and down from between his lips when he spoke; looking up at the Beast's face who was standing at the outer circle of the sitting people with some other men.

He blinked at the sudden question; they had been calling him 'Kid' from the beginning, which he didn't mind since he never cared about what names others call him with; but the fact that these people cared about his opinion enough to ask it quite surprised him. He'd never been with nomadic-artists before, except with some traveling mercenaries who'd be very alert with others and suspect everything, so he'd underestimated these people's adaptive ability. Before he knew it, he'd become part of their pack in just a couple of days, despite his secretive behavior about his and his Human's lives.

"…second night?" he asked flatly. Full moon came for two nights, some beasts would go more vicious at the second night of full moon, and for them to leave the rocks site they now use for some cover and barricade to the plain desert was questionable, of course.

"Ah, right. We'll have to leave that to Aku; the rest we'll sort at the time later. While I don't want to be too rash, but those pits between the high-rocks concern me.." he pointed the high projecting builds of large rocks at the center of the site. "Rice said he'd heard the depth of them and they troubled him, too. Now, I don't mean to make wild assumptions, but there's a possibility that may be the OWLs used some of them as the entry to the surface and that's what had this city to disappear…" the man stopped to catch a breath and examined his people's faces.

"Beasts' blood would attract bigger ones to come in the second night, even though there might be no OWLs with them." He shrugged one shoulder once, and back to the Beast; "So, instead of defending this site as our barricade, we could use the remnants of our first-night fights for bait to slow them for some time while we're running. Well, what do you think?"

He silenced for a while, giving it a thought; he could understand the man's reasoning, but their fear of the OWLs seemed a bit exaggerated for him, but that's may be because he knew about the OWLs more than they did who only heard stories and rumors and some leftovers from some battlefields and such, and what they did to the human's civilization, like that no-longer-city around that site for example. He didn't want to explain about the OWLs, so he just spoke up what his assessment at the time.

"I don't know what kind of beasts that would attack, nor the people's abilities, yet. So I'll just observe for tonight, any other assessment will come later. Is that fine?"

The people looked at him with relax faces, although there were some amusement in them. Suddenly a man's hand messed his hair from behind, he heard the man laughing, so he didn't react at that sudden action. "You're a soldier-boy, hu, Kid?! Relax..! We're doing this every month, with or without the rocks..!!" he closed it with another laugh. The others chuckled at them, may be because his expression looked funny, he thought to himself.

"I'm sorry…" he said flat. Truth was he'd feel more vulnerable fighting countless enemies in the open desert, especially when running away would become no option since he had some charges, the caravans and the people, that he couldn't leave behind when he had to run.

"It's okay, we have Aku with us. He'll keep the big ones at bay. Ah, you'll know what we mean when the time comes..!" a girl spoke with a big smile, she seemed like a fighter type, too, with two short-swords crossed behind her hips and a long whip hung from her waistband in loops.

He stared at her for a while, trying to ignore the man behind him who became bolder from just messing his hair who's now embracing his neck while he was doing that. "Hey, you smell nice..!" the man grinned happily.

"I'm not in heat in full moon..!" he said flatly, slower than before. "Ah, shoot…!" the man released his neck with a sweatdrop, knowing he'd crossed a beast-line. His comrades laughed outright, the girl serving the Old Lady even threw a dry bush she'd picked from the sand near her sitting spot at him.

The Old Lady, the chief of the troupe who always looked smiling on her comfy chair, seemed pleased despite the coming full moon night. He thought, must be because they were led by such a person that the troupe was so acceptant and merry living. Sometimes he saw the glints in her old grayish eyes when he encountered her stare, it made him feel a little self conscious. May be since he never much in contact with good-old-ladies before.

"…..in other words, you feel intimidated by grannies…!" his Human said with wide amazement in his violet eyes while he chewed on his lunch. He tried to not react to that, "True, you never really interact with grannies before. I mean, Ruéa wouldn't be counted as one; and the older women working for the Castile would be retired at 50…."

He stared at his Human, since he was saying about the Castile's live so casually, and he'd realized that his Human knew those facts as facts from his past now. He seemed more composed than yesterday, more time to sleep meant more puzzle-sets solved. He'd seemed to be in peace with the memory of the Castile's live.

A spoon full of thick soup presented at him, he swallowed it without much thought, his Human snickered happily at that then wiped the little spill from the end of his Beast's lips with his thumb and licked it.

"…There's something bothering me…." His human started, the Beast stared him from the ends of his eyes. "…ummm…" his Human made a thoughtful face, scratching his left cheek with his fore finger; that gesture often showed by his former-_self_, it meant he didn't really want to elaborate but he couldn't help but got bothered by his thought.

That intrigued the Beast, not realizing that he was watching his Human's gesture that much, but he felt something soothing in it. His Human's former-_self_ would lower _her_ hand and half-consciously took the end of _her_ silvery-purple braid since it was cascaded on _her_ left-side, and used it to playfully brush _her_ chin while _she_ spoke up what bothered _her_ a little halfheartedly.

His Human's hand lowered and his fingers didn't find the end of his braid since it was behind his back now, automatically that hand searched blindly to the back, on the caravan's floor, and found its target, took it under his arm, and used it to really brush his chin lightly. "…I thought that…--" he continued after the 'ritual' was fulfilled; that made the Beast chuckled inside.

"…Pahh..!" his Human suddenly blew with flustered face, closing his eyes with some arteries popping on his forehead. "Don't stare me like THAT, I'm already melting in this hot air…!!"; still, he avoided his Beast's stare.

His heart felt lifted by his Human's critics, it showed him that he really was more composed than yesterday; he tried to reign the rainbow-colored-clear-bubbles inside his heart from invading his mind with melancholic thoughts while they pop; while the thought about the upcoming fight didn't bother him at all. Yes, this was love-sick, alright…!

The Beast stared him with a curious but knowing stare before, now he had a melancholic stare in his half-drooped eyes. He cleared his throat a little.

"What bothers you..?" his Beast beat him to it and got the conversation back to its track.

There was a light air around his Beast that he had almost swallowed back, but he didn't. "….you…"

"Me..?"

"…You and your enduring habits..!"

That earned his Human a blink from the Beast. They silenced for a few breaths, the desert air was burning under the scorching sun.

"..Is it normal like this?"

"The fullmoon-fights..?" he understood that his Human suddenly change the conversation's track.

"If it was what had bothered you before, you should have just told me so I could prepare myself…!" he said with a pout, feeling a little left behind, that if it was only the both of them they could look after each other fully, imagining that he could cling to the Beast literally when the odds closed in on them; now, his Beast would have to look after others, too.

"Only that?" his Beast asked with one brow lifted. Knowing his Human's tendency, he would…

His Human gave a long sigh, understanding what's important at the moment than just some selfish thoughts; "…what do you want me to do..?" he averted his violet eyes from his penetrating stare.

He smiled, he'd give everything to this Human, and more… "Sit still and don't make me worry more…!"

"Yeah…like a good wife, right? If that's what you want…!" he meant it as a metaphor, but realized what he'd said at the end, and widened his eyes with a flushed face.

The Beast wanted to chuckle outright and tease his Human a bit about not being _a-girl_ anymore, but he refrained, not wanting to give his Human awful-first-memories at the time; so he pretended he didn't catch what had his Human flustered suddenly.

After that they silenced for the rest of the high-sun, his Beast was back to his chores with the troupe's people in the afternoon, preparing the fight and what needed as defenses. He, on the other hand, didn't quite find the right moment to actually elaborate what had him bothered in the first place: that the presence of the man called Aku made him feel ill at ease; the moment that that man had put his Beast on his broad shoulder, and his Beast was forced to hold onto him like a little child so he wouldn't topple from his sitting spot.

He furrowed in thinking, 'like a little child', that what really bothered him actually. Somehow the realization when watching the scene happening that night that it felt right made him shudder feeling the hollow inside his heart. '…it felt right….!' He repeated in his mind, '…he spoke the same language as me…' and repeated what the man had pronounced to everyone at the bonfire circles.

After sometime chewing on his braid end, pouting at himself in the end when he realized he did it; he looked around the caravan from its back door, after he was sure that his Beast wasn't around near him, he stealthily walked to find the one black caravan hidden behind the rocks to find that Aku-person. Not knowing that there were two pairs of identical eyes staring at him from one of the caravan's window between the busyness of the preparing for that night's fight.

Two identical smiles bloomed behind the little curtain, "…should we tell Rice about that fairish-person…?" the little girl spoke with the intonation of nothing sort of a little girl of her age.

"Hummm…aren't you wondering what would happen if we just let it roll like this..?" the little boy answered, blew at his pinwheel to make it let out the whistling sound softly.

The little girl giggled, "But Aku is ours; if we could eliminate two bugs with one tell we could watch it happens…!"

The little boy chuckled at his twin's words, "..it should be two birds with one stone, sister-mine, but I know what you wanted to see….It should be fun, too, but short spanned fun, you know..?" he blew his pinwheel with a longer breath.

"Brother-mine, we collect bugs in the summer; when it's autumn, despite the fact that they are in their long-nap-time or not, when we got bored keeping them, we burn them on the fire and eat them..!"

The little boy chuckled deeper, "Aah, good nutrition…", "Great fun..!" they said together and laughed merrily; the fact that Rice had the ability to 'hear' them didn't bother them the slightest.   

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1.      ….actually, saru still don't get it what exactly saru wrote there…(word-block means you write every words that came flashing your drain-of-brain)

2.      Chapt. 13

…this is the longest-time saru took for writing 1 chapter; sorry for that.

For the whole May, saru got stressed by the illustration-contest (which sadly saru didn't win, hehee..), saru is single-minded –in a worse term- which meant saru couldn't divide saru's mind for more than one thing. June+July saru (& gank) got busied preparing the necessities for a (supposedly the 1st-BIG-WOW revolutionary) cosplay event in 2nd Aug; which had turned out to be the worst cosplay event we ever participated in (next time we'd just better participate in high-school cosplay event, or college's, or mall's…!!).

This chapter was supposed to be ended after the fullmoon-fights, but saru have to finish the comics jobs that we had neglected the past months to pay the debts of making the cosplay costumes and other things (including Oni-tan's sewing machine that she used to make her costume with), so despite the unnecessary-parts in this chapter saru humbly upload it like this (since saru already forgot what saru supposed to write in some parts due to memory-blanks), because if not, it will take months to have the time to write again.

      Saru being selfish…sorry for the inconvenience.

Chapter(s) in progress: WoB c.21

Affix mode : children of winds (background story) 


	22. Virion affixmode: children of winds 1

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku** **16 augt****, 200****8**

_**affix mode (more than 70 pages…enjoy ^^ —**__the longest chapter that saru insisted to be one chapter, but added the sub of the sub-titles in the end and chopped it into parts, anyway…haahaaa__**) **_it's the background-story chapter bout Zechs; 1+2 still going somewhere in their chapter but saru got a little stuck with the plotting, so going to suspend them for a little while. 'Hope you don't mind a little rerouting…

**Children of Winds (Virion's story) **

**1. The ceremony of a pureblood Prince**

This happened about 14 years before the ball in the Grand Hall of Virion's capital was held. A blond boy walked across the Hall's floor in light strides, a smile of pride attached on his lips, the lining counselors gave a deep bow to him when he passed, he replied with a winning smile. He had everything a fairytale prince should have, and more; he had the prophecy siding with him since ages before he was born, even the ancestors' blessings were in his blood. It was three more days before his 10th birthday; as the kingdom's tradition, the crowned-child would be officially crowned at his 10th birthday, before that he was merely a prince without the right to the throne; but after the coronation he's officially the next king and could take his throne when the King entrusted it to him early.

His light strides stopped in front of the King's study, he knocked on the thick wooden door two times, and answered when his father asked him to enter.

"It's me, Father..!" he smiled while entering the large chamber.

"..'It is I'..! I know, only you who would knock twice in this castle..!" the King corrected his only son; he was sitting on his desk with a scroll of report in his hands. From the furrow on his forehead his son knew that the report was of problem.

"Is there a problem?"

The King blew his breath, and tossed the paper to the desk, it scrolled shut by itself halfway. "Well, you could say that. How's the ceremony preparation?"

From the way his father sat on his desk blocking the scrolled paper with his body and changing the subject, he knew that it was indeed a report of problem that needed immediate control.

"Another raging beast?" he smiled with wide hoping eyes.

"You don't ignore me when I change the subject, Young Man, I'm the King..!" his father said authoritatively. His son bounced in his seat with a chuckle. The King gave up, "Yes, yes. Another raging beast…!" he sat back to his study seat.

"May I go there, Father?"

"What for?" there's a cautious tone in his question; he knew what would come next.

"Field experience?" his son answered with his politician face. The King knew his son would insist on coming no matter what he said, but he tried…

"No..?"

He smiled, tilted his head down a little, looking up at his father's face from a lower angle. "Yes? I'll be crowned in three days, and I won't have someone talking behind me that I never even tame a single beast by my own hands…!"

The King looked up, "I will keep saying 'no'..?"

"Father-son hunting time?" he knew he'd win the debate with this, if there was a debate.

His father looked at him closely for some time; his smile didn't falter receiving that autocratic stare of a King.

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The next morning he found himself rushing through the rocky grounds, a blue-speckled white egg a little bigger than the size of his head was secured in his embrace, covered in his cloak. There were various scrapes on his face and hands, he kept his breath low, and hiding behind large rocks while he tried to find the way down the mountain.

There was a loud screech coming from the sky behind him. He ducked instantly behind a reclining tall stone; there was no tree he could make as a cover, so he compromised with what was provided. Still, he cursed in his heart, he didn't think that the beast would find his scent this soon. Must be something to do with his blood scent; beast-tamers were untamed Wild's enemies; of course..! His mind mocked; they set off really early in the morning, with guards and counselors and all; but no one would think that the pure-blooded prince, said to be the strongest beast-tamer in the kingdom's history would be snatched by a beast from his horse right in front of his parading guards.

"….this is the end of the prophecy….!" He mocked at this scandal in his heart, adding the worse fact that it was two days to his coronation ceremony; even now he could picture the people talking about what an unreliable beast-tamer he was. "…'he couldn't even take care of a single raging beast and he wants to rule this kingdom - what an imaginary prophecy our predecessors had'…!" he thought what the people would say behind his back in his head, while keeping his breath as he realized that the beast that had dumped him in its nest to be preyed by its chicks –if that beast was considered as a bird- was already there.

He took a peek carefully; the flying beast was circling the sky above him. A sudden pain behind his back shot up his spine, he tried to slide to the ground easily without making a sound; when he touched the tore leather vest at his back his hand was red. He bit his bottom lip; no wonder the beast could track him down this easily. But the beast's talon didn't puncture the thick leather when it grabbed him, then when…?

His eyes guarded for a second, then he closed them; he was thrown to a nest made of tinder and twigs, the still featherless chicks were not as vicious as their parent, even though they were almost as big as him in size; he found some other eggs in the nest, apparently the beast stole other beasts' eggs too to feed them with, considering that most of the other eggs had been consumed. One of the other eggs was still intact, the one he had in his arms right now; the beast saw that he tried to escape and dove at him, he managed to throw himself from the nest to the ground between some rocks….Ah, the beast's tail must had his back at the time..! He cringed a little, picturing the beast's long tail with a bud-like bone at its end.

Opening his eyes suddenly, he touched the wound on his back again, and tasted his blood after smelling it. It's poisoned. He gritted his teeth at his own carelessness; he never thought that the beast that he'd only seen in books could suddenly take him as a prey. "…dammit..! What's a Callous-tail doing in this kind of age..!" he grumbled in his mind. He didn't see it when the beast attacked him, but he knew that the callus part at the end of the beast's tail could open like a flower with four partitions, inside was a sting attached to a body that formed like a snake.

Yes, Callous-tails were said to be the royal-blood natural-enemies; that's why his tutors said that his ancestors had had them extinct ages ago.

…_..unless someone bred them on purpose…!_ That thought suddenly flashed through his mind. He smirked to himself; _no…right? Who would intentionally do such a thing, and for what….?_ To purposely raise a Callous-tail was a crime that would be sentenced with death, unless…._unless the person was above the law..!_

"…Uncle Marquisse..!" he hissed; right, he had a son a year older than himself; with his mother, the Queen, died giving birth of him, her family's castle was given to her only brother -a step brother, and that's why he was not a pure-blooded, who seemingly thought that having that castle and the area wasn't enough, he wanted the whole kingdom as well. As the only successor to the throne he'd been very aware of its political and internal affairs from early age.

….so the Callous-tail was targeting on him since he had the most powerful scent of pure-blooded Royal….! _What a nonsense! ...someone needs to add that part up in the prophecy…!_ He thought; realizing that his mind couldn't formulate his thoughts in words anymore, the poison must had his orientations faulty; he'd lost his consciousness soon, and he'd be lucky if he wakes up paralyzed; he'd be doomed if he wakes up insane. The prophecy indeed did not state that while he'd be the most powerful king, he'd have his sanity intact…. At the thought, he unconsciously let out a soft moan; and realized his slip afterwards when he actually felt the beast's eyes on him, even sheltered by the stone.

His heart skipped for a moment….

Then, without thinking twice, he ran as fast as he could through the forest of stones, instinctively made his way between reclining stones that made his cover. He threw his body to the grounds several times, avoiding the tail of the beast, while protecting the egg from the impact; he knew his body would be black and blue under his leather suit, but didn't want to take the risk being stabbed by the sting again…twice as insane didn't add up in his agenda; _and supposedly in his prophecy, too…!_ His mind protested.

He yelped as the rocks under his feet suddenly collapsed, the slide took him down faster but made him an easy prey. While he tried to avoid crashing his sliding body to the blocking stones, he saw the beast coming to get him from the front. Rolling to the sides, he managed to dodge the beast's tail for several times; but a tall big stone stopped his sliding, he stepped both his feet successfully but his sight immediately blocked by something black. He gritted his teeth and kicked something like a big whip from impaling his front. There were two talons at each side of his head; trusting his instinct, he took the small blade from its sheath behind his hips and stabbed the thin layer of skin between the talon fingers and nailed it to the crack between the rocks.

The beast screeched, its sting-body whirled wildly and he took another small blade and hacked it off, the beast's other talon crashed his head but he managed to push his upper body to the side; the spur cut his forehead and the blood blocked his right eye. At the exact time, he couldn't see the beast's tail swung and hit his side; as the air knocked out of his lungs, half blinded by the pain he realized that his body was thrown to the air. He was lucky enough to land on some unstable pile of rocks, that they collapsed and nullifying his falling impact to some extent.

His vision blackened as his body stopped sliding. He coughed up blood; must be some broken ribs, he thought as he tried to roll over to his front. Some sliding gravels hit the egg still held tight in his embrace, he noticed its presence then; he almost forgot about it by the sudden attack. Getting to his knees, he blindly searched for the other blade hidden in his boots, he had four of them secured on his legs; the beast had four eyes, so it was some kind of a fair gamble. The screeching beast flapped its wide wings and pulled its talon, tearing its skin while doing it; but that was only a small cut compared to his injuries, he realized it well.

He smirked; _may be not fair at all…_he thought as the angry beast launched at him. Praying at his possible-last moments, he threw two blades at a time and closed his eyes.

A strong force knocked him rolling to the ground at his side. A loud grunt heard between the beast's painful shriek; he felt a strong big arm covered his head, "You okay..?!" a frantic labored voice that was too familiar that usually heard in a much calmer tone. Opening his left eye, his blurred vision saw his father's face above his head. "…father…." he croaked. He blew a relief smile, "…I have one more survivor…with me…" the hand embracing the egg clutched the cloak wrapping it tighter.

That was the first time he saw his father smirked, "Proud foolish boy..!" he slapped his son's forehead with the back of his fingers playfully. "So much for father-son hunting, eh…?!" his father looked up at the flying beast that dove at them after circling the sky once. The blades he thrown had one of two of the beast's larger eyes and scratched the lid of one smaller eye.

"Run for a cover..!" his father said while running away from him towards the plunging beast, "The others will get here soon..!!".

"…Fa..ther…!" he hoarsely called out, but his father was already out of his sight. Fighting to keep awake, he rolled to his front; only doing that took him a lot of efforts and time, half awarely he heard the sounds of his father fighting that beast; the air was filled with the will-fight his father was having with the beast. It's no use; it'd took more than four pure-blooded to tame a Callous-tail, …if only he could be conscious enough to summon his Blood…

"Go…!!" he heard his father barked at him. "Get out of here..!!"

He could summon his Blood out; he kept that mind and tried to stand on his buckling feet. There was a loud screech and a heavy groan, he couldn't focus his vision but he knew his father needed help.

"Milliard, GO..!!" that was the last sound his ears could hear, the hot rush of power started to fill his veins and then everything turned black.

---------------

He woke up in his bed. His body felt tight; there was a big round object pressed painfully to his front -by his own hand, he realized after some time. He tried to loosen the clutch and as his whole body felt an electrical shot of pain he moaned, closed his eyes and left his body unmoving. Catching some breath, he tried to move his fingers first; after they twitched and loosened, he tried his wrist, up to his arm.

A cool hand placed on his forehead, "My Prince…" a soft grandfatherly voice; that must be the old Counselor, his floating mind supplied. "You still need some rest..!"

He moaned something he himself couldn't remember what, but the old Counselor said, "…We'll take good care of it…! Everyone was very concern that they couldn't pry your hand from it, that they couldn't treat your ribs properly…."

It seemed that he went on talking about something his mind couldn't process at the time, then the warm presence near his beating heart was pulled away; he tried to voice his complaints but everything turned black again.

He opened his eyes again some time after that; everything was swimming-black. He glanced to his side and felt the warm presence near his head. That repeated for several times until he gained real consciousness.

---------------

He didn't remember that the windows of his room had black bars like a prison cage on their frames. The maids wore black dresses, and the lining counselors looked like black pawns.

No one's talking…..

He didn't remember that his castle was this subdued.

"…My Prince….!" the old Counselor suddenly appeared at the side of his bed. No, he must have stood there silently like the rest of the lining counselors…._why was he in black robe…?_

"Ah, our traitor has awakened…!" a malicious voice heard; he knew the man barging in his room…_What was that 'traitor' about..?_

"Lord Marquisse..!" the old Counselor tried something, but the man indifferently backhanded him. The old Counselor kneeled down in fright; and he knew something was VERY wrong…

"Milliard Peacecraft…!" the man said cockily with a victorious smile, "You will be trialed in seven days for your crime of betraying your father and your King..!"

"Reflect on your crime for the time being, crime-boy..!!" the man cackled while leaving his room. He stared at the man's back; his mind still yet to recognize that man's identity even though he'd heard his name before. He heard the old Counselor sobbed silently on the floor.

"….Counselor…." he whispered weakly, "…what's that about…?"

The old man hastily wiped his tears and got to his feet. "Please rest some more, My Prince..!" his wrinkled face seemed older than he last remembered. "You need to recover soon…." there was a tear sliding his old cheek, he wiped it with his robe hand.

He was extremely tired, and his mind still swimming with black speckles; he wouldn't mind to have more sleep. He didn't realize his hand was trying to move to reach the warm presence near his head until the old Counselor placed the round object gently in his curled arm. He remembered he smiled, that was all it needed to make him content at the time.

---------------

_His father had died…!_

Only that thought filled his mind right now; the standing Councils were murmured with uneasiness.

He stood alone in the center of the Court room….

---------------

"Milliard Peacecraft…!"

…his name used to be longer than that…but he couldn't even remember about it now…

"Convicted guilty for leaving your King and father to his death; therefor will be sentenced for committing a crime of betrayal to the kingdom, and will be exiled for life or for unlimited of time. What is your conviction?" the man sitting on the Arbitrator's seat spoke, he was the one who barged in into his room that day; _why was he sitting there..? He's not the Arbitrator..!_

"Did you, or did you not leave your King alone facing his death while you ran saving your own life…for the sake of a beast's egg..?!" his voice suddenly heard like a blustering thunder.

He jerked, still wide-eyed and seemingly not aware of the things happening around him. The blue-speckled white egg was still firmly embraced in his hands; '…I have one more survivor…' his words talked back to him. Right then he could eventually comprehend what this absurd ceremony was about; ….he didn't even present at his father's funeral, he was still unconscious at the time.

….it was supposed to be his coronation ceremony; and his father, the King, should be the one sitting up there; and everyone was supposed to be cheering him with bright faces; there should be trumpets sounded and the city's Windpipe playing his ceremonial song….._Where's that ceremony held…? He needed to be there_…_there was a crown waiting for him…._

He remembered his lips smiling….

The murmuring Councils heard again; the man with the smug face on the Arbitrator's seat seemed livid.

"MILLIARD PEACECRAFT..!!" he shouted, the Councils instantly hushed, shrunk in their seats. "Destroy that egg right now in the witness of the Council's eyes; and we won't charge you for premeditated betrayal and just..--!"

The man's words were cut by his chuckles; he remembered that he enjoyed it at the time. Everyone was silent; he remembered he could win everyone with his smile, _this time was no different_, his mind whispered. _That's right; he could win this ridiculous trial of joke, too…_

…_.if only this was a dream; he could wake up now_…his mind whispered again.

"….I have nothing to say…." he said still smiling with wide shocked eyes; he knew he was loosing his mind, he was sure the whole room knew that, too; and the whole kingdom as well.

"My Prince…!!" the lining Counselors fell to their knees for his words; he almost found it funny and laugh outright, but his throat constricted; there was a bile gurgling up his neck, he wanted to scream instead, but his lips were smiling. _What was it said about having all your pawns down in chess….? The King was gone, the Bishops were held captive, and now his pawns were down_; he chuckled at the dramatization of it all. _And his knights didn't stand on his side…_

….oh_, right; the prophecy didn't state that his sanity still intact….!_ He chuckled again; then turned his back to the whole room and left. He remembered people crying when he passed; some maids touched his head and shoulders for blessing; they didn't say anything. The smug man shouting his condemnation; he didn't even share a glance back at him, he knew where they would prison him as the last pure-blooded; to guard the Dragon was better than entertaining these clowns; and he didn't need anyone to show him the way to the Tower. It's fine just by himself…and the egg in his hands, it was warmer than the air in the subdued castle. It was early winter, and the sky pour down its first snow; at least he thought it was the first snow of that winter since he was unconscious and bedridden for almost a whole month. His breath clouded, but he felt his dry eyes burnt hotly; _something must fall out of his eyes_, his mind whispered, but he couldn't remember what…

He remembered he was still smiling, climbing the stairs of the Tower up he counted to ten, then back counting from one again as the staircase still spiraling up; he remembered he was still counting even when he'd seated on the bed of his new room in the Tower, rocking slowly embracing that lone egg in his hands.

He counted to ten then back from one again…

…_..it was fine_..

He was cold but the egg in his hands felt warm…

---------------

There was a cackling boy's face in front of him, he was about his age; he thought he remembered when that face had much nicer expression on that face, even if he'd known that it was faked from long ago. He stared.

A swishing sound heard and the back of his right hand felt like it got burnt; he looked down at it, another swishing sound and his right cheek felt it too, making him looked up again to the thing that the boy held, patted to his shoulder. It was a riding whip. He was cackling -that used to be nicer fake boy….he only stared.

"Hey, come on. Say something..!" the boy said patting his burnt cheek with the whip.

…._oh…were they having a conversation…?_

"Stop staring and say something..!!" the boy barked as he felt another burnt on his already hot cheek. The blow made him turn his face to the left, he saw the old Counselor kneeling on the floor; his body trembled slightly, there were tears dripping from his chin, hidden by the robe's hood. He wondered why….

"Look, look..!" the boy held his head at both sides with both hands, guiding it a little roughly to look down at his embracing hands to the lone egg; he blinked. "You see..?!" the boy smirked, brought his head to look at his own face up.

"I said, if you don't stop rocking like that, that egg would be a scrambled-blend inside..!" the boy said slowly as if talking to a little child who wouldn't get what he said anyway. _Why would he do that..?_ He furrowed his brows a little. The boy laughed hysterically while patting his left cheek with a gloved hand.

"You don't understand what I'm saying..?!" there were tears in the boy's eyes from laughing. Then he shook his head back and forth with both hands hard, he remembered he let out a sound of protest and those hands let his head go, swaying by the aftereffect. The boy laughed again, harder, holding his stomach and hitting the wall above his head.

He was still looking up at the boy's face with his body bent almost over him, he thought about what he felt. "It felt lighter…!" he said flatly. He remembered the boy's face stared at him, for a second his laughter stopped, then it multiplied as if hearing the best joke he ever heard.

…_yes..his head felt lighter_…. He thought as the boy fell on the bed he was sitting on at his side, hitting the mattress wildly; at least he thought the boy didn't fake it this time, he didn't remember that the boy had a sincere laughter in the past. After desperately controlling his breath, the boy stood again; his face was red and he was wiping his laughing tears, still chuckling a little.

"…you're funny…" he chuckled as he went to the door of the stairs down, "…Crazy ex-prince..!!" the boy added before he shut the door roughly, and he continued to laugh again as he descended the stairs.

He remembered watching that boy left; a few hasty sounds and then a cold wet cloth felt on his hot cheek. He looked down, finding the old Counselor kneeling in front of him; stroking his hot cheek gently with his trembling old hand, his other hand was hastily wiping his tears from his own face. _What was he crying for…?_

"My Prince…" the old man said with a trembling voice, "I will prepare your supper now..!" he bowed once, and took out something from the basket he had with him, and laid them on the small wooden table in the center of the round stone room. The old Counselor walked back hurriedly to him on the bed, "Please have them while they're still warm..!" he said almost pleadingly, "…it is very cold in here..!"

Three light knocks on the door, "Counselor, if you finished your task, you should go back..!" an armed guard said flatly, then left without any greetings. The old Counselor stared at the closed door for some moment; he took out a pair of thick socks from his loose robe. "…please wear these all the time, My Prince..?" the old voice sounded begging; his old hand put the socks on his feet hurriedly but still gently, then covered them with the loose pants he was wearing and a pair of thin fabric boots that used for indoors wear.

He remembered he only stared at him; the old trembling hands guided him to the wooden chair next to the table, stroked his back affectionately a few times. The guard was clearing his throat at the slightly opened door, and the old Counselor halfheartedly left him to the room alone.

After the aftereffect of the shakes gone, his lighter head felt heavier than before; he blinked at the black bean soup and medium-sized loaf bread on the table next to the bowl. Looked at the lining small tall-shaped windows at the wall, he dragged the chair with one hand to the window side; sitting with his knees bent still embracing the egg between them and his front, he started rocking slowly again, counting to ten and repeated from one again.

The snowfall made the scenery white, he stared with wide eyes as his black-speckled vision turned white again; but his surrounding wasn't bright anymore.

The sun was not shining in the sky anymore…

---------------

The underground part of the Tower kept him entertained every time he went down there; the Obelisks' faces always greeted him with their odd voices. He remembered his smile wasn't his always-blank smile there.

The Dragon's unmoving figure was still as he remembered when he first introduced to it several years ago by his father; breathtaking and always made his heart skipped a bit. He remembered he always looked at it with a yearning feeling; he rubbed his chin to the egg in his embrace as he thought about it.

Suddenly the wuthering winds from the large hole in the center of the floor stopped blowing. A commotion heard from the spiraling stairs, and a few men came down with weapons in their hands.

He turned his head back to the end of the staircase from his standing spot in front of the dragon's wall; the men stopped descending after they reached the last stair, seemingly afraid to step on the sanctified room's floor.

"Prince Milliard..!" one of the men greeted him as they saw him staring levelly at them. He stared.

"We are here to rescue you, Milord..!" another man spoke behind the first man. He stared.

"Lord Marquisse will keep you here to death; so please come with us..!!" another man spoke. He stared back to the Dragon's wall which had dimmed to common black glaze-stone again since the men entered the space.

…._as if he hadn't known that as a fact_, his mind whispered.

"Are you here for the Dragon..?" he asked softly.

The men seemed a little taken aback by his calmness; no, apathy was more correct.

"Milord, we are here to--"

"Are you here for the Dragon….?" he asked again, his voice was echoing a little by the room's air. He could hear the man gritted his teeth behind him, from across the spacious room separated by the deep hole in the floor; they knew that only the little prince who had the right to be in that chamber, they were a little overloaded by the weight of that clear soft echoing voice and the invisible presence in the cavities alongside the wall.

"…No, Prince Milliard…!" the first man answered with a defeated tone after taking a few breaths.

"Then you have no need to be in here. Please take your way out…!" he said apathetically with a soft clear voice.

"..But, we're here to--!!" the other man half shouted impatiently.

((Sire has told you to get out..!))

((Please leave!!))

The Obelisks masks said in unison in the glaze-stones circling the bottom of the room, the clipped booming voices startled them and made them shrunk in fear. The eased winds started to blow again from the hole in the floor, traveled up in invisible spiral currents. As they felt the blowing winds closing around them, the men looked terrified.

The dark cavities lining the walls up started to let shriek-like sounds, and then came shooting out some shapeless specters that swirling towards them, some even penetrating their bodies and brought them in their mad swirls around the round room before taking all of them into the wuthering hole in the floor. "Prince Milliaaard…--!!" the man's shout was still echoing carried by swirling winds.

He didn't spare a glance at the now gone men. The Dragon in his space was more interesting than everything, right now.

Suddenly a pair of tattered black gloved hands grabbed his upper arms from behind and lifted his body from the floor.

"Are you out of your minnnd…?!" a familiar hoarse voice asked with a flat angry tone.

He tilted his head up, knowing whose voice it was. "ArrenBone..!" he greeted with a smile; "I thought so, they wouldn't have managed to come inside without some particular guilder's help…!"

The pale sickly looking young man let his arms go; something black emerging from the man's shadow on the floor liquidly supported his feet to keep him up at the same line with the man's eye-level. "They came to get you out of this place…" he said flicking his head to where the staircase ended, his bored tone was his characteristic feature.

"How much..?" he stared with clear wide eyes.

ArrenBone stared back at his eyes for some moment; "…Not your concern now..!" he said with almost a bothered tone.

He thought for a while, or at least faking it; then said, "Well, then…you should return them half of the payment, since I'm not coming with them..!"

The man chuckled his characteristic out-of-breath chuckle; "Why does your not coming with them reduce my payment half, eh, Blond brat..?!" he smirked while gripping his vest's front with both hands.

"Because it's 'take us to bring the prince safely from the Tower' I assume..!" he said levelly. "Since you only managed to take them to get in here..--"

"I get it, I get it..!" ArrenBone brought his hands up in a surrendering gesture, "…brat..!!" he added childishly, that made him chuckled.

"Why didn't you…?" the man asked surveying the dark round chamber.

He, too, searched the room in fast observation; the Obelisks didn't awaken by the guilder's presence, _it must be because that they didn't find him as a 'person'_, his mind supplied. "What? Getting rescued by those people..?"

"You know, your dear uncle, Lord Marquisse, rules viciously without mercy up there..!" he sounded uninterested; "Some faithful people would still be hoping for the rightful Prince to take his Lordness…"

He silenced for a while; "…some faithful people would want a cast-out prince to be their stringed puppet, 'Bone..!" he said with an adult's eyes. "If I get some 'mercy' from the Lord Marquisse and taken as a state's prisoner in the castle's prison, some 'faithful people' would easily be able to come to my rescue, and make an uprising against him. And that will give him the reason to kill me, won't it..?!"

"At least in here I'm safe; ….from those 'faithful people' and from the Lord. It's fine..!", to some ears those words could be heard like a desperate cry for help, but the older man didn't point it out for his ethics said that it's not really his business.

"..For now!" his sharp stares told the man enough of what he wanted to confirm by his own eyes; he let the boy down on the floor again.

"Pfffth..! At least you could show your close people that you care for the kingdom's safety, brat Prince..!" It was as if the man didn't want people to find him guilty, searching out reasons like that.

"Yeah, it's not like I live in luxury in here, Master ArrenBone, Last Headmaster of the University of Shadow-craft, Sir..!" he retorted with a flat bothered tone; he was actually pointed out the title that such a person with that capacity shouldn't be somewhere out there doing guilder's jobs just to earn some small coins or killing time, but the said man seemed like he didn't even care about his _headmasterness _even if people slap it on his face like a duel-sign glove, since it's not theirs...

"Well…" ArrenBone turned his back and looked around, to the edge of the wuthering hole; "How about you pay me, and I'd get you somewhere out of their reach..?" his almost grimacing smile showed on his face; that meant he's up to something.

"As you see I don't have anything I could pay you with, 'Bone..!" he sighed a smile, that guilder was sometime so childish that people failed to see his deadliness; but sometime he himself too content with his ability that he failed to see how much of an honest kind he was. He never hated this man, from the first time they met in a murder attempt set by his uncle, and he was forced to pay the guilder his treasure at the time; somehow that guilder fascinated him. The later coming piece of information made him have some respect for the man, since he was actually the present Headmaster for the last remaining Shadow-University existed between the OWL's 'Scape and the deep uncharted territory. They said geniuses usually the eccentric kinds; …_or was it idiotic-looking kinds? _His mind commented.

"Hmmm…" the hunched wobbly figure faked a thinking pose, "…how about an egg..?!" his brows lifted up above his sleepy-drooping eyelids made a comical expression on his face.

"The Dragon…?!" he said with a face showing the impossible.

"Hahahh.., funny. I said an egg..!" his grimacing smile got wider with a suggestive stare.

"The Dragon?!" he repeated with a more pressed tone, with an irritated face.

"I said an EGG, brat; not a Dragon's egg –wait, the Dragon lays eggs..?!!" the man hurriedly limped to peek at the Dragon's space, and stood frozen with his hunching pose, observing fixedly.

He turned his face at him still with squinting eyes; "….it's a MALE Dragon…how could he lays eggs….?!" the man asked with a slow annoyed tone.

At that he blew out his breath in a repressed laughter, running away from his taller figure. "Are you toying with me, Blondy-brat?! Give me that egg for down-payment…!!" the man extended his hand to catch his back.

But he turned and kicked the man's shin covered with his long tattered layers of pelts; then running away again up to the spiraling staircase.

ArrenBone let out a choked 'eeckh' sound that almost sounded like a stumped mouse; it made him laughing out loud.

"I WON'T give you a hand when you asked me to help you lateerrr…!!!" he shouted with his hoarse breathless voice.

"I won't ask your help, anyway…!!" he shouted back from somewhere up the stairs.

"Brat..!!" the sickly pale man looked really sick just from shouting.

He blew the man a raspberry, hooked one end of his lips with his forefinger to make a face on him. That sickly man always found out what to be blackmailed out of people; but that was one of the things that fascinated him in the first place.

He'd be doomed if he were to ask a guilder's help to stand against his own people; how ever those people were found faulty. That was the only pride still left in him for being the rightful prince…

---------------

In the winter of the third year in that Tower, the old Counselor who had been like his own grandfather died without him knowing. He'd been late for half a day bringing him the adequate food they'd allowed him to eat in that place; he didn't thought much of it at first, he thought that someday the old man would become bored treating him like a prince while he's nowhere near even a commoner's status, anyway. The guards at the lower doors took the basket of food exactly at noon, saying that the old Counselor was found dead on the stairs; his old buckling feet couldn't support him to climb the many stairs anymore, and he must have fallen down and broke his neck. He was killed instantly. The guards didn't even bother to act like they cared for that said old man.

He stared at the closed door after they left.

There were many things he'd taken for granted in his early live; he didn't realize that he still could waste his important things like that, even though he had almost nothing left now.

Suddenly he was very aware that the old man had loved him with all his might all his life; and he'd always thought of him of only fulfilling his duty, that it was his right to receive such loyalty from his minions.

It was not simply about loyalty after all…

The food in the basket didn't pique his interest. Something about the closed door made his eyes glued to it, so he dragged the one chair next to the table and put it facing the door a couple of meters away; he sat there for the longest time, stroking the egg between his bent knees and his beating heart. For once he'd forgotten to count….there's nothing else to count anymore….

---------------

---------------


	23. Virion affixmode: Children of winds 2

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku**

**Children of Winds (Virion's story) **

**2. The winter reflected in a baby-beast's eyes**

In the autumn the next year, the egg started to crack. It took two days until it hatched; he waited with worries, and blissfully welcomed his other-survivor to his humble company.

To his surprise, the beastling inside the egg was very much of humanoid-form; the distinguishable differences were only for the beastling's red-colored skin and some white-fur linings that intricate its feature, and the pair of wide almond-shaped eyes that would put any blood-red gemstone to shame with their clarity.

He blinked after staring too long at the beastling staring back at him with its unique eyes. "…you're…" he searched his mind, "…a baby…!" and added as if asking the beastling for confirmation. The beastling cooed with a pigeon's sound and curled its hand as if catching his figure looming over its eggshell.

Scratching the back of his head, he looked around the round stone room, and the ceiling, and back to the cooing beastling now moving its four limbs in the cradle of the eggshell. "…I have a baby-beast…!" he stated with a distracted tone.

Walked around the round stone room, he glanced at the eggshell on his bed sometimes, tidied up some books on the already neat shelf, distractedly cleaned the glass of the small tall-windows that reflected his perplexed face with a piece of cloth, set the drapes down to hide from the reflection of himself, then set it tied again at the sides, then after some thought he set them down again as if wanted to hide from the world.

He walked back to the direction of the bed, kept a couple meters distance for only enough to see the beastling's eyes stared at him. It looked content in its cradle.

"I'm 14, I have a BABY….!" he scratched his head again. Walked closer to it, he closed his eyes facing the ceiling and counted to ten; then looked down in a snap finding the beastling cooed with a jolly face as if finding his actions funny.

"….it's a baby..!" he reported back to his baffled mind, as if expecting that his mind tricked his eyes before that.

"Well, you sure are a survivalist…I sometimes thought that I had damaged your egg and you wouldn't hatch..!" he tried to divert his baffled mind by talking to the beastling conversationally while wiping its body from excess liquid from its eggshell. After that he cleansed the remaining part of the eggshell to be used as the cradle at the small sink at the other side of the wall. The beastling cooed louder and started jerking on the bed; he hurried to it while drying his hands with a small towel.

"Yes, yes..! Are you lonely being alone on a stranger's bed..?" he gasped realizing something; "Oh, should I not have cleansed the eggshell off the hatching-liquid..?! It smelled different from your natural smell, right…?" he said apologetically to the beastling on his bed, it was instinctively suckling on its fingers now, trying the feel of it one by one.

He chuckled at its instinctive experiment. His baffled mind had calmed down a little; "Now let's see if you're a baby-beast-boy or a baby-beast-girl…!" his face flushed at the later part, he never had a sister and to suddenly nurture a baby-girl would feel like molesting her instead. He cleared his throat and readied his mind; pulled both the beastling's feet up gently, closed his eyes while pulling them apart with both hands; when he opened his eyes again he cried.

"…aaghh, it's covered with thick furs..!! I'm doing immoral things, Ancestors forgive mee…!!" beating the mattress faced down, his mind pointed it to him that he was supposed to have realized it that thick white furs being THERE since the first sight. He heard someone chuckled and going madly at it; after gasping for some breath he realized it was himself chuckling.

The beastling kicked its feet jerkily several times, cooed and let out a jolly shrill-sound at him. He wiped the tears from his eyes, staring at the baby-beast with a relief smile, while his upper body still slumped on the bed; "…are you laughing at me, beastling..?" The beastling shrilled again seemingly happy to the voice of him talking.

He cleared his throat again; "Alright..! Sorry for checking on you like this…" he sat up and pulled one of the beastling's feet up. _Feeling up is more correct..!_ His mind pointed to him with a matter-of-factly tone. "Shut up…!" he closed his eyes feeling a hot burning sensation on his face.

After a moment, he froze.

A moment later he still froze….

And some moment after that, his mind pointed to him that he was still frozen….

Putting down its foot, he stared it wide eyed; "….you're genderless…!" he said flatly.

He slumped on the bed, looking like a senile old man with empty shocked-stare; "…I rocked you too much while you're still an egg and blend you completely and made you genderless…!"

He remembered someone said something like that some time passed….

……….. "….I need a drink…!" and that's the conclusion of that.

---------------

He tried not to notice the funny face the Counselor who brought his food was making; just kept rocking his body slowly with the eggshell in his embrace like when it was still a round egg, while letting the beastling inside it suckling on his forefinger contentedly.

After a few minutes not moving by the closed door, the Counselor eventually moved to his task setting the food on the round wooden table in the center of the round stone room; after that task finished, he stood frozen again staring at the creature occupying the broken eggshell suckling contentedly at the presented forefinger like a pacifier.

They both silenced, only the soft suckling sound was heard beside the hard blowing winds outside.

"…should I…" the Counselor started slowly, "…bring some broth, too, Sir…?" he should be given applause for keeping his calmness.

"No. It's fine..!" he answered him fast.

The Counselor nodded deeply once for leaving; but before he got to the closed door, he stopped and turned back hastily, standing in front of him who was sitting on the bed with bewildered eyes.

"Sir, are you..--?!" before he finished his question, the beastling yawned and let the man see the blood from a nick wound on the tip of the bigger forefinger it was suckling, then closed its small mouth on it again.

The Counselor instantly fell to his knees; "Sire!! You shouldn't…--!" that's the first time that man ever called him with an honorary title beside 'sir', _and in a very loud voice, too...!_ his mind complained.

"I said it's fine..!" he dismissed the man with a crisp tone. The man seemed stunned by the authoritarian stares in his ice-blue eyes; he snapped his mouth shut in a click, and after being silent for some time he took his leave, shutting the door softly as if not wanting anyone to notice his humble figure.

He sighed and loosened his stiff body after he was alone with his beastling; "…I feel like a premature father now….!" he said to himself, the beastling jerked bouncily in the eggshell. "Yesss, you like that, don't you…?" he talked to it and felt lifted when those red eyes drooped gently at him.

Staring at the far scenery from the windows, and the reflection of him cradling the baby-beast in its broken eggshell, he voiced what still bothered his mind, "…I'm 14, I made a baby genderless…..!" he reported to no one in particular. The hard blowing autumn winds answered him outside, some sunlight beams penetrated the grey layers of clouds, he could smell the cold weather coming from the direction of the shorelines.

_This winter he wouldn't have the warm presence of the round object always embraced in his hands anymore_, his mind whispered.

---------------

He climbed up the spiraling stairs from the underground, crossing the landings to his room, he was surprised enough to find the Counselor crouching on the floor, tidying the mess scattered around his room, but he didn't show it. The beastling held in his left hand pulled at his hair a little.

"…Sir…!" the man greeted him from the floor. He stared; his step cousin must have paid him a visit while he was in the underground chamber.

"Just finish your usual task, I'll take over the rest…!" he said lightly to the man.

The Counselor bowed, "I can't do that, Sir. It's bad enough that…--" he didn't continue.

_Now, that's why no one should call him with honorary title with that loud of a voice_; he thought, but kept it to himself.

Sitting on his made bed, he chuckled at the beastling who reached blindly to his face. That made the Counselor turned his face to them; the beastling had grown fast in just a couple of weeks, its remaining eggshell couldn't fit its size anymore; it's strong enough to crawl on its own now. The man furrowed a little at the jolly cooing beastling.

"It's Bland…!" he said conversationally without needing to be asked; "He's this stressless..! And a glutton, too; look at his teeth!" he chuckled at the obediently yawning beastling showing its sharp teeth to the Counselor.

"Sir, you shouldn't keep feeding it with your..--" the man stopped as he stared him back levelly; and he obediently get back to his task tidying the messy room. He had not much of things in that room, so it didn't take a long time to do it.

The Counselor set his food as always, there was an addition of some mountain fruits on a small dish; it seemed the man especially plucked them for the beastling. He bowed and headed for the closed door.

"Thank you…" that soft said word stopped him and he bowed once again, closing the door as soundlessly as it could.

He walked to the table, picked up a red mountain berry and tried it; it's sweet enough for his taste. He took another one, picked the seed with his teeth, crushed it a little and brought it to Bland's mouth. The beastling must have thought that it was his usual meal seeing the red juice sliding his fingers for he swallowed them enthusiastically, but after a couple times of suckling, his face cringed and blew them forcefully out of his small mouth, making a complaining sound repeatedly.

He laughed at the wildly thrashing beastling in his hand; "I thought so, too; just introducing you to other tastes…!"

The beastling stopped his thrashings at his voice; his red eyes seemed to be questioning him about something. "Here, usual treat, right..?" he pressed his forefinger to the pointy edge of a piece of eggshell he hung around his own neck with a string like a pendant, made it bleed and stuffed it to the welcoming mouth. His Bland made a low purring sound while suckling heavily; he blew a breath to his beastling's contented face, "..glutton!", the small hand reached out to touch his face as if offering his own smaller fingers to him.

He chuckled, "No, I don't need some change, Bland…!"

---------------

He found his room in the messy state more often these last weeks, sometimes it was in the interval of 2-3 days; he managed to avoid meeting his step cousin by slight premonitions and took his refuge to the underground chamber where he, nor others, wouldn't be daring enough to enter and pick on him intentionally. Truth was, for knowing himself being the unrightful Young Lord, his step cousin wouldn't even dare himself to enter the doors to the stairs heading to the underground chamber; he was terrified if the Obelisks would find him faulty and send condemnation on him.

The good thing out of it was that the Counselor could slip one or two new books in his bookshelf while he was tidying it. There was sometime a little note of news report, about the kingdom's affairs; uprisings, taxes, new unavoidable rules, victimized parties, latent warfare, and other things that could be scribbled in a little piece of paper. He disposed those papers into the wuthering hollow in the underground floor, telling himself that he should wait for his time to come, and be patient with this. Turning back from the hollow, he touched the Dragon's wall once; it darkened again, and he climbed up the stairs to the landings.

The night was quite clear for a cold mid autumn night; he thought he should hurry and get back to the bed where he left his Bland soundly sleeping. A little cooing sound almost unheard made him looked up to the Tower's top, where stood in their glory the statues of his kingdom's symbol. He thought it was just a night bird's sound, but a little pull in his heart made him looked up and stared fixedly on the ray's part of the statue.

He widened his eyes in shock then ran hastily climbing up the spiraling stairs to the uppermost part of the Tower, using his arms to support his body from falling over the void in the middle of the round Tower in his frantic. The doors to the top landings of the Tower seemed to not cooperative with him, he cursed at the heavy panels and forced them to open pushing with all his might. He crouched on the top landings to catch some breath, and tried to calm himself; he didn't want to get hysterical and surprised his Bland.

"…Bland…?" he tried as he got back to his feet; he could hear the beastling cooed happily answering his call.

Getting down to the tower's ledge where one of the statues raised from the sides of the Tower's wall, he tried to call again. "Bland, it's me…do you hear..?"

A pair of clear red eyes glinted at him by the moon's light; he looked up and fastly said "..stay there, Bland..! Don't move, you understand me..?!"

There was an enthusiastic shrill coming from the beastling crawling on the uppermost ray that would be getting to its end soon. He climbed the axe-part of the statue calling his beast over and over, trying to get his attention enough that he'd stop crawling to the end; while he worried that the beast would take a shorter route to him by jumping off its length's edge.

His Bland sat near the end as if waiting for him to come, the ray-part topside was wide enough for a baby to crawl on; he cursed as he was forced to balance his steps on the narrow path, ignoring his mind which kept pointing at him that the Tower was about 80 stories high from the ground of rocks.

The beastling jerking happily pointing something in the far sky; his heart exploded in his chest seeing his swaying small body. "Stop..!! Bland look at me!" he called out. The beastling seemed to understand and looked back at him; he made a calming gesture with his hands. "Don't move, alright? I'm coming to get you, wait for me..!" he begged. A strong wind suddenly blew on him, he gasped as his body almost toppled over the edge; he threw his body down clutching the narrow ledge with his four.

Suddenly a shrilling coo heard from his front; it was just several steps away, and his Bland was out of sight.

His heart stopped.

"Noo!! ...Bland, answer me..!! Bland?!" he frantically shouted, searching with his eyes that he even almost blown by the gush of wind over the edge. The strong winds blew for some long minutes; he closed his eyes desperately clutching on the statue's ledge, thinking the worst about his beastling.

After the winds calmed down, he straightened his body, realizing that his little beastling wasn't there anymore. His body trembled uncontrollably at the realization; he gasped out for breath, his eyes started to burn despite the cold air.

"Bland….?" He called with a small trembling voice. There was no answer.

_No..!_ his mind denied; gripping his hair at the sides of his head roughly. "…Bland? It's not funny..!!"

There's still no answer except the sound of wind blowing. He gritted his teeth, feeling out of air, and started to hyperventilate; looking down the dark depth that provided no answer.

"…HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME…--!!" he shouted with anguish but something bumped his back and made him fall off the edge. It felt like a slow motion as he fell down; he remembered he fell with his back facing down as he recognized the smiling moon in the night sky getting farther and farther away.

Then, something familiar closing in on his falling body from up there; it was his little beastling reaching out both his small hands to him; a little relief warmed his heart as he caught his small light body in his hands again. A little logic in his head supplied the possibility that he was falling face down and managed to catch up to his falling Bland because of his heavier body. But the smiling moon he was seeing in the farther night sky was denying his logics.

Another sudden gush of wind around him, aside from what his falling body was making, and gradually his falling stopped mid air.

He blinked his wide shocked eyes several times. The smiling moon didn't get farther anymore. Feeling the winds with his whole body, he knew that he was in mid air.

Floating..

He blinked his eyes again; glanced to each side several times, as if expecting to find something that his logics could accept. A little voice in his mind whispered that it must be just his imagination, that he was in fact still falling, and that him having this kind of imagination could only meant that he was actually in the verge of death, somewhere in the reality outside this delusive imagination.

A chuckling coo made him aware of the beastling in his arms; Bland let out a happy shrill, pulling at his blond hair. The winds around them danced spiritedly. That's right, it was as if the winds were a living invisible hands supporting their bodies; or more likely his body, as he felt the beastling's body tried to float away from his hug.

His body shook again, one hand lifted to cover his face; he chuckled madly with a breathless sound, truth was he was really out of breath at the time.

"….you're a wind-user…!" he said to his frozen mind, and kept chuckling until he wanted to hit himself to stop it from chuckling.

The Bland in his arm was making a contented sound, he looked like he was started to get sleepy. "…Bland, listen to me. Bland..?!" he patted the beastling's back a few times. After a pair of sleepy red eyes looked at his, he pointed up to the top of the Tower; "Take us back up there, okay…?"

The sleepy eyes blinked a couple of times slowly, but the beast complied as the winds started spiraling around his whole body; and as he felt that it was getting lighter, his body was floating to the top of the Tower again. A little voice in his mind pointed to him that he could run away instead, but his pride didn't budge.

At the Tower's top landings, after the winds put his body down, and dissipated into the night air back; he felt something slowly built inside his chest, it felt like a cold hard thing with spikes on it, and it grind on his heart painfully; and as it grew bigger he put the little beastling on the stone landings from his chest. The red sleepy eyes opened halfway in confusion, they asked why its nurturer had put it down on the cold stone floor again and stared it down as if judging it.

He knelt in front of his beastling, watching it try to crawl back to his warm hands, he felt that spiky thing explode in his chest; suddenly, without his mind even realizing, he lifted his right hand up, and brought it down with a wide swing. A sound of impact heard, his eyes saw his beastling's body thrown several steps away; he stood and walked to it in fast strides, then repeated what he did before, over and over.

A choked shriek sounded desperate in his ears, his mind didn't care to think about it; he only felt his right hand moving up and down, it felt good, his left hand was holding something down, keeping it on the floor. Another one of choked yell, and another, and another, and he thought he heard someone cried with anguish, someone so familiar. He felt like he wanted to sooth him, but his eyes didn't see who it was; so he blinked them to clear his sight from the blurry wetness, and he blinked again, and again. As he felt his breath caught, his mind let his eyes to see what was before him...a baby beastling about a 2-years old infant's size stared at him with a desperate stare, asking with its wet eyes why its nurturer hurting him so badly.

He took a deep breath, but it was caught in his throat; he tried another one but only managed to make him choked, so he dropped his kneeling body backwards, back-pedaling with his hands and feet to get away from those hurt eyes. He tried to breathe at some distance away, his eyes still staring unblinkingly at the beastling on the floor; its lips busted and bleeding, its nose too, a small cut at the end of its left brow was bleeding quite a lot, the blood from it was smeared on its cheeks with palm-marks printed on them, so many that they didn't look like the shape of a palm anymore; the red skin of its face was a thick blood-red, like the color of half dried blood.

He heard someone babbled about something over and over with a desperate tone, he strained his mind to translate it.

"....think that you could...--!!"

He took some breaths some more;

"......waste my life like that...?!"

A choked cough;

".......you think you could leave me...?!"

A wheeze and some painful sobs;

"....who do you think you are to show me Death...?!"

Ah, that's what he was hiding from all these years...

"....I'M NOT WASTING MY LIFE FOR YOU...!!!"

And that was his pride talking, for being the rightful heir to the throne...for being the rightful Lord...for being the foretold King...for being alone in his exile; it's not his time yet...he couldn't waste his life for a beast...

...for only a beast.....

He sobbed again. The beast stared him with shattered feelings shown in its eyes...the beast that he saved....no, the beast that had saved him from his uncle's wrath......the beast that..-

oh, Gods...he'd beaten an infant brutally....!

The winds felt cold on his hot face, he kept sitting on the cold floor catching his breath. His sobs gradually calmed, and his pride stopped lashing out; he stayed on the floor, sniffled and coughed his sore throat out; his wet cheeks felt cold by the night autumn air eventually.

He hugged his head between his bent knees, trying to hide from the world, from the sniffling baby-beast in front of him; from himself. He tried to hide from his pride....

Rocking his balled body slowly, he started to count; when it got to ten, he started back from one again, and again, and to one again...

He didn't know how long he was sitting there like that; his trembling body said that it had passed a long hours. His mind didn't care about it; may be if he kept counting his body would stop living before he got to ten; then he didn't have to repeat back from one again....

A soft rustle at his left side felt warm despite the coldness, he felt someone pulled at his hair gently. Peeking from between his armpit, he saw a small hand clutching a lock of his blond hair like a lifeline; he loosened his balled body, and found his small beastling curled to his side, as if leeching the warmth of his body; while in reality his body was the one felt warmed by his trembling smaller one.

Sniffled once, he scooped that sleeping beast and went back to his humble room.

That night he learned that he could do unthinkable things when his pride do the talking; it was not about his right to the throne, it was simply that he didn't want to die; clinging so desperately to the body he didn't even care of....he knew he'd lost his sanity once.

That night the small beast learned that his nurturer could hurt him; but he couldn't hurt him back, that it was because something in his blood didn't allow it to happen. And that it was not its nurturer's most important someone -or something; that his instinct told him that he could sacrifice it if it was getting in his way to his destined future. That night the beast learned that its nurturer didn't love it the way it loved him...but the clutch of its small hand on his lock of hair didn't slacken.

After that, they slept in their darkest slumber where no beautiful bright-dream nor the worst nightmare could haunt them. He held his small curled beastling tight to his beating heart, as if apologizing with his every heartbeat. The beastling still had some tears glistening on the ends of its closed eyes, but it felt content…at the fact that it couldn't hurt its nurturer even though he might kill it someday; that was its safe getaway. The ends of its small lips curled up blissfully…

---------------

Its nurturer didn't speak for days after that night, even though he seemed calm on the exterior it instinctively knew that he was feeling an almost unbearable burden inside. He still nurtured it like usual, gentler even, but didn't utter even a single sound to the beastling nor the Counselor. It missed his voice very much, but it only could asked him with its large inquiring eyes, which he avoided almost all the time.

The abused skin didn't bruise, but there were left blotches of shiny speckles smudges like pearl-dust on the hand prints. They didn't seem to be hurting when he touched them, the dusty speckles must be the beastling's immune system to self-heal its wounds. In his silence for days, he kept it close as many times as possible to his heart, it didn't mind hearing his steady heartbeat like a cradlesong, but from each heartbeat it knew that he was hurting; for it, the beastling knew. 'Muu' it called him secretly, 'the tender storm' in its language it knew deep in its beast-mind.

Sometime in his tired sleep it found that its nurturer cried out a couple of tears onto his pillow. It didn't take as much sleep as it was before the incident's night; the beastling always took the time to scrutinize his sleeping face, which wasn't as guarded as it was in the daytime. Sometimes it got flashes of broken images into its mind when it touched his tears, mindful as to not wake him, but they were mostly consist of jumbled emotion that those broken images were unrecognizable. The beastling didn't prod deeper into the past that flowed in the clear liquid; it didn't want to hurt its nurturer more, it had done something that broke him that fated night, even though it didn't know exactly what it was.

It missed his gentle smile so much…

…so much that one night it decided to crawl out his bed and from his gentle embrace, outside to where the world hid their faces from him.

A young great hawk greeted it from the top of one of the statues' rays, the bird's jet-black eyes shone in the dark as it cocked its head to the sides asking the beastling's intention. The beastling eyes blinked once, 'where is the place that hid its face the most from Muu?', it asked the great bird.

The great hawk flew down to the lower part of the statue, 'not yours to know' the bird's eyes said.

'Muu is hurting and I will find his smile back', the beastling countered with its large clear eyes.

The bird clawed at its head a couple times then shook it; the head and neck feathers spread wide in the night breeze made the bird's head seemed larger and not so much birdlike. The jet-black eyes shone again in the shades of its open feathers, 'what will you do if you don't find it..?' the wild stare asked.

The beastling only blinked its blood-red eyes slowly.

The bird's feathers closed again, it flapped its wings twice to loosen its muscles. 'I witness such a place', the great hawk glanced at the beastling on the top landings and flew into the night. The beastling's eyes brightened and it summoned the winds to carry its body to follow the flying bird, determined to find its nurturer's smile back.

The great hawk flew circling the palace once, then it landed on the pole above a tall framed window, there was a long flag hanging from the pole made from deep blue velvet with an embroidery of a two-headed eagle standing on an upside down hatchet with its lion-tail curled around the hatchet's handle. The beastling floated behind the flag, its red eyes shone in distaste, even its baby-beast's mind could comprehend that the embroidery was different from the great statues on the Tower's top and the emblem felt wrong and hateful.

The window was dim lighted; the beastling stuck its head from the above-corner to peek inside. The room was dark, only the dim moon casted some rays into it from the lining tall windows and a fireplace in the far side wall. From the detailed carvings that accented the window frames and bars it knew that the room must be more luxurious than its nurturer's small round room where he was kept, but the extravagance in that room made it astounded nonetheless; because from little, simple things, and small corners of the spacious room it could feel its nurturer's presence much clearer and brighter than his presence now, like a shimmering dust-flow that filled the air. His nurturer once spent many times in this room, the beastling experimentally touched the window sill with one finger; distant memories instantly filled its mind, images of a small shining boy with his winning smile and fluttering blond hair in the winds extending his small hand to the gently waving red flag hung outside that window, then a tall and charismatic man behind that boy took him onto the window ledge and held his small body by the waist to guard him from falling, they laughed together as the boy managed to catch the red velvet flag and embraced it with both hands close to his chest, the man behind him stroked the boy's blond hairs as the winds carried the smell of plants and rocks into the beastling's mind…- the red eyes snapped open finding it was already landed on its knees on the window ledge, a little carried away by the happiness in that distant memory, the cold autumn night winds felt biting its skin, it multiplied the lonely feelings felt in the oversize shirt that his nurturer put on its body.

The dewy window glass reflected its beast reflection, it ghosted its fingers on the reflection; how cold must its nurturer felt everyday? The reflection of its wide-eyed innocent face didn't answer.

The big fluffy bed's occupant was a bearded man with angry-wrinkles carved deep in his face; even his sleeping face looked menacing in an almost snarling expression. He seemed to be bothered by something from the past, but as the beastling felt some distaste to the man, it left him and floated around to survey the room, finding many bright memories hidden in simple things, while the lavish things hid awful feelings. When the beastling closed its eyes, it concentrated to the distinctive bright memories and found a flow of bright speckles coming from the floor at the side of the bed. The beastling followed the flow and it fingers touched a velvet cloth, opening its eyes it found a velvet riding cloak used as a mat since the bearded man's sleepers were carelessly put on the wrinkled cloak. The cloak had tears and the color was already faded, but the protective and loving feelings waved from it didn't falter by its physical condition. It was the charismatic man's belonging, the beastling knew; that was once its nurturer's nurturer.

Even though the beastling didn't understand the concept of parent, it knew that its nurturer had attachment that was unaffected by time with that man, so feeling instinctively that it had found his smile back, it took the cloak with it back to the Tower. The gap between the carvings on the upper side of the window frame were large enough to let its small body made its way through them, but getting out with its charge was proven a little more difficult than the way in since it didn't want to add more tear to that old neglected cloak. A sharp edge of the carvings cut the beastling's forehead a little, it bled but at the time the beastling didn't even took notice of that cut; and that way it didn't care to look back to notice that there was a small drip of its blood left on the window's ledge.

Thinking that it found a special present for its nurturer, it spread the cloak on its nurturer's blanket covering his sleeping figure; then lay next to his head it finally fell asleep after got too tired watching his unaware sleeping face.

---------------

The cloak was two-layers-sewed, the outer-side was black and its inner-side was red. The black cloth had a cape and a loose hood, while at the inner-side just in the middle of upper-back part there was an embroidered kingdom's insignia and the successor number to the throne. That way he knew to whom that cloak belonged to. The still sleeping beastling at his side cooed in its deep sleep, a smile on its baby face; somehow it seemed utterly happy over something. He didn't put to mind about the creature next to his sitting body, the black cloth spread on the blanket covering half his body didn't look unordinary in any way, except for its neglected appearance, but he stared at it as if it was an alien thing.

The beastling awakened as it felt its nurturer was already awake on the bed, it sat and rubbed its eyes; after yawning as its instinctive waking procedure it looked up to its nurturer with a naïve smile full of expectation, but he was froze staring wide eyed at the spread cloak on his laps, as if being cornered and afraid to move. Noticing that it didn't get the smile it was expecting, the beastling reached out its hand and took a firm grip at his shirt. That made him jerked. His chin was quivering and he so slowly turned to his beastling with jerky movement.

His breaths were labored and he tried to swallow, hard. His quivering lips eventually stretched forming a delirious haunted-smile; the beastling cooed a smile thinking that he'd found his smile back. Suddenly a loud crack heard and its light body thrown to its side and landed near the end of his feet on the bed, it lied frozen instinctively knowing that it had made another grave mistake.

The beastling closed its eyes and held its breath, trying to keep still like a rock but eventually holding its breath made it trembled a little. A small miserable sob coming from its nurturer made the beastling snapped open its eyes; he was tracing a tear on the cloak's back that split the kingdom's insignia into two, that was the hunting cloak his father wore that ill-fated day, the dirty red-colored side had splotches of things ruining its color here and there, but the embroidery threads still hold their testimony bravely; they spoke of royal-blood spilled on them.

He abruptly grabbed the cloak and crushed it with both hands to his chest, crying his heart out openly.

The beastling recognized the painful cry its nurturer made; he was hurting…he was hurting and not smiling…..! …just like what the great hawk told it that night…. It slowly got up on four and dared itself to crawl to him, feeling guilty crushed its heart times worse, the small hand reached out to him and not knowing what to do it pulled back its hand and sat near him.

…..So that was that, a sword tear…his father was murdered……he was killed by another human, not because of the Callous-tail's attacks…murdered..! Someone plotted for his death……for blaming him of his death….someone betrayed them….not him…! He was not a traitor that caused his death…….someone else did…not him….not his fault……!

…if only he was conscious at the time…….

"…--AAAaaaaaaaHHHH…!!!!" he didn't realize he cried brokenly out loud, he thought he heard another hitched sob sounded near him but his mind didn't want to care right now; embracing the cloak like a dead body he cried as much tears as his eyes could, not minding the painful howls he let out, not minding the world, nor the people that might heard him somewhere in the vicinity. He'd been pilling it up inside for too long years without even admitting that pain, without admitting his mistakes, without admitting that he still had feelings over things. He let out a more painful cry sorrowfully, not minding if the whole palace heard him.

"…--uunggh…-hic-" a small sound followed by another moan, and another, eventually reached his ears and gradually brought his mind back to the present. "..Muuu….." -hic- "…ngghhh…", his vision blurred by the tears but his eyes found a pair of blood-red gems dripping with shining tears in front of him, at the side of his feet, just a hand-reach away. The beastling's lips were quivering and made some movement, as if trying to speak, but as it couldn't the beastling only moaned over and over, trying to call out to him with a real voice. Its hic-up sobs were cute and endearing; those sounds would touch any female's heart to nurture it.

He blinked his tears, still sobbing reflexively but not letting out broken cry anymore; the beastling's small hands were furling and unfurling the bed sheet, longing for a touch of its nurturer instead of an unresponsive piece of cloth in its small grips. He blinked again and sniffled, used his sleeve to wipe his runny nose uncaringly. Then, he let go….of that cloak, of the past caging his sanity, ….his heart; and reached out.

The beastling's sobs deepened at the presented open palm reaching out to it; then, it actually cried when plunging its small body into his open hand. No….may be he should start acknowledge the beastling as a 'he' now, because he's not less humane than himself. He wound his arm length around the small body and brought it to his chest, the small hands clawed at everything of him they could touch, and it was the beastling's turn to cry openly now.

…he'd hurt that small creature that much….. So he instinctively embraced him with the cloak still on his laps, rocking him gently, while hushing him to calm down and stop crying. Those words….he should have told himself those words long ago, crying was not a crime…he should have understood that since so many years before. He's such a human-failure…! Now his mind could smile at the irony of it, he tried to laugh at his thought, but it came out like another weeping sound. It made the beastling looked up to his face and licked his tear-stained cheeks, while his small hands wiped at them too. Somehow the busyness made him genuinely laughed, even out of breath, but it was laugh.

Realizing that his nurturer had found his smile back for real this time, the beastling grabbed hold of his head with both hands, as if afraid that his nurturer would lose it again if he didn't guard it.

…….. "..yess…..I love you, too….."

The closed blood-red eyes still dripping their remaining tears out, a couple of wet sniffles answered that whispered sincere words. The beastling felt alive for the first time, and he'd die over and over just to feel that feelings again…

….even if he had to kill; but that thought was yet to enter his innocent beast-mind. Evil craved for innocence to be devoured that even a small unassuming smile could summon it to come, lurking in the depths of the hearts waiting for that unguarded moment that a little grain of hatred would let it out of its cage.

Someone once said that innocence was the seed of evil.

---------------

A larger finger than the beastling's caressing his lower lip woke him, he opened his eyes and froze as he found the face of his step-cousin above his; he was tracing his lower lip as if it was a thing, not even minding that the owner was staring him doing that. His step-cousin who only a year older had grown well in the past years, he seemed like an adult with a stern face and broad shoulders; his fingers were quite callous for a young Lord's, it was warmer than the room's temperature seeing that he was using a leather glove before; it seemed that he had trained his body well. He was still only 15 that year.

There was something flashed in his light grey eyes, he smirked; "…you were smiling in your sleep…!" his step-cousin mouthed.

Feeling self-conscious, he clamped his slack mouth and stared his step-cousin's face a little more guarded. That seemed to amaze the older boy as he chuckled quietly and deep, his eyes side glanced to the bundle next to his pillow, it was his beastling wrapped in his father's cloak like a crumpled cocoon; he unconsciously grip the cloak he was holding loosely before. There was another flash in his step-cousin's eyes; it made him worry, at least; he then straightened his tall body and licked the finger that had caressed his lip as if it was dipped in something sweet; he didn't understand why his cousin did that but it made him feel exposed, his surprise must have shown on his face since his cousin smirked again. But he left the Tower after that, chuckling to himself.

He wasn't sure what had happened in that short moment, seeing the view outside the windows it showed him that it was still sometime after dawn. He frowned to himself then stared to the blissfully sleeping beastling next to his pillow, there was a trace of shiny speckles on the side of his forehead formed like a short line.

…where _did you take this from..? Did you leave a trace or something…?!_ He sighed deeply once, he guessed it wasn't the beastling's fault; he was still too young to even understand anything beside the weather outside, anyway.

A chill ran up his spine, not particularly because of the cold room and the silent snowfall outside. He tsk-ed to himself, messed his hair with a little frustration, grabbed the bundle of crumpled cocoon flat to his front to leech off the warmth from the blissful beastling, and threw his head back onto the pillow deciding that it was still too early in the morning and too cold to wake up. Whatever his step-cousin stored for them could wait until later, it's not like he could avoid his bullying anyway.

The 'later' was decidedly only till noon, apparently, it wasn't that he was waiting, by the way; but like he said, he couldn't avoid it even if he wanted to. The Counselor set his food on the table as usual, but he waited by the wall afterward, all the while keeping his face down, there was a guilty air surrounding him.

He tried not to care about the Counselor's behavior and just sat on the chair in silence with the beastling sitting on the bed and still preoccupied with the piece of the eggshell made as a pendant he'd given from his neck, after inspecting the blue speckles and chewed on it several times, the beastling soon lost his interest with that piece of eggshell and dropped it to dangle from his small neck by the thread necklace. Noticing that his nurturer was going to have his meal, he cooed for his share, too.

"..Muu….!" the beastling called out between his cooing, jerking on the bed with both arms extended to his direction.

"How impudent!! You should call him 'master'..!!" the Counselor suddenly yelled at the beastling; it made him froze in surprise and fear, realizing that this was the first time another person had made verbal contact with him besides his nurturer.

He glanced from his seat at them, his beastling was holding his breath but showing a stubborn face not to cry, trembling a little; the Counselor who usually calm and submissive seemed a little too eager to vent out whatever made him anxious. He took the beastling from the bed, "Bland is still too young to speak..!" he said evenly.

"But, Sir… A beast is still--"

"--a beast? I know that, I'll teach him slowly about our relationship; now is just not the right time yet…"

"…but Sire…." The Counselor sighed with a pleading tone; that title alerted him for he glanced at the man who seemed as if he was entitling the floor rather than him. That made him snorted; ignoring the man's stubbornness he sat on the chair back with his beastling seated on his laps, and took half a spoon of the soup. He though the smell was slightly different, a taste confirmed his guess, it was poisoned; not a deadly poison, but he guessed he would still have physical trouble later. Frowning, he contemplated the poison's effect on his body; right, it meddled with his blood; that means he couldn't feed his beastling afterward.

He let the spoon dropped to the bowl; the Counselor bowed with his face hidden by his loose hood, "….Sire…!"

"You may leave..!" he dismissed the man, who seemed like wanted to be mad at instead.

"Sire..!" the Counselor said again with a pleading tone.

"You may leave, Counselor; don't make me repeat myself..!" he said with an even tone. The Counselor stood still by the wall; his hands trembled a little by his front, then bowed deeply and walked backwards to the door and closed the panel with another deep bow. The man might want him to lash out at him or just blame him for the situation; he knew that the Counselor couldn't escape his step-cousin's orders, so even if he put his loyalty and obedient on scales, being only a Counselor, he couldn't really choose, anyway.

He sighed and rubbed his face, so his step-cousin targeting his beastling now..?!

Took the eggshell pendant to nick his forefinger, he stuffed the bleeding finger into the beastling's eager mouth, a happy coo sounded every now and then; after some period of time the beastling let his nurturer's finger out of his small mouth, the same length as his usual feeding time, but his nurturer stuffed it back into his mouth, there was a slightly colder stare in his eyes.

"Take as many as you can swallow, or you'll starve later…!" he said with a flat voice; not understanding the reason but knowing that his nurturer wasn't angry at him, the beastling did as he said; he feed until he felt so full and fell asleep.

He stared his beastling fast asleep with mouth opened and dribbling a little, his body reclined to his other hand embracing his back, his small limbs dangled from his laps, his belly was more rounded and his face glowed with satisfaction; and the beastling actually snored, even though it sounded something like the sound of a small flute with high tunes. Chuckled to himself with amazement, he mumbled "….so you could actually got drunk from feeding too much, hu, Bland..? Like a small old-drunkard…!" while flicking his numb right hand, it had turned whiter a little from its original color.

Spooning the soup to his mouth, he chewed on the bread a little halfheartedly; he thought if it's only this once he could regulate the poison from his system in about a day, but he doubted that his step-cousin would only give it for this once; besides, there's no guarantee that he wouldn't give him any more dangerous poison next time.

---------------

His head felt lighter, it's hot; the air was scorching even though it was midwinter night. His body felt like falling, deeper, deeper; he never thought that his bed was this bottomless. There were voices jamming his ears, his eardrums were hurting, he wanted to scream so they'd stop, but his throat felt like it was charred, breathing was hurting.

…_yeahh, right…..it's not a deadly poison, alright….!_ His mind mocked.

Cool small fingers touched his forehead repeatedly, he was lying facing the wall, he opened one of his eyes just a slit, light was hurting; his beastling cooed sitting behind his head, he closed his eyes tighter and faked sleeping; his skin felt raw all over his body, he wanted to get out and cool himself down in the piled snow on the landings. He groaned, thinking was hurting; maybe he'd just succumb to the fall, when he reached the bottom perhaps he'd loose his consciousness.

Something soft pressed to the back of his head, small groggy-moved hands encircled his head, something bent above his head shading the light from his face; he opened his eye again, his beastling was hugging his head just like what he used to with the beastling's egg; that thought made him smile.

"…..Bland……'thought you're asleep…" he croaked, his eyelid closed without him realizing it. He felt the vibration from the beastling's body as he cooed repeatedly with worry.

He let himself fell to the hands of his beastling, then.

---------------

It's been a week since that day; he sat on his bed pretending that he didn't steal glances at his beastling sitting on the floor; the small redden lips were thinned and turned downward, there was an unhappy furrow between his white furry brows. Every now and then heard the sound of paper tearing, and a squeaky sound each time those small hands threw the crumpled torn papers away; while the whole time those fiery red orbs burned at him who's pretending to read on the bed.

He sighed in his heart; he hadn't fed his beastling ever since that day because just as he thought his cousin kept mixing the poison in his soup; it's not effecting his body like the first time anymore, seemed like his antibody had built an immunity to the drug's effects, but still it meddled with his blood. He didn't want to risk his beastling's safety and that's why he hadn't fed him to this day. The said beastling squeaked harder as he threw another ball of crumpled paper somewhere near his small feet; that's the third book this week, he'd remembered those books inside out so he didn't really mind his beastling using them to show his anger.

…_hmmm…spoilt little beastling..!_ His mind commented; maybe he should start to teach him some human-rules one of these days. A thought flashed in his mind, wasn't that what his step-cousin tried to do…? But his logics denied it, saying that he was only trying to get to him through his beastling; another side of his mind thought that it's better for him to just keep his head to the situation at hand and not play guessing things he couldn't investigate by himself, so he just continued playing that pretending-game with his beastling on the floor.

After almost two weeks passed from the first time his step-cousin mixed his soup with the poison, he stopped doing it; he thought his step-cousin might just giving an interval or something, as he tasted his soup just for being caution. He glanced at his subdued beastling sitting on his bed, slumped against the wall with clouded eyes trained to his own fingernails he was played on his stomach. He didn't look sick for not feeding almost the whole two weeks, maybe not yet; it was just that his growth rate wasn't as fast as it was when he could feed everyday. And the beastling wasn't as cheeky as usual; he missed his hyperactive Bland, he thought to himself with a smile. Since he didn't get a poisoned soup that day, he thought he'd feed his beastling this evening as his long-delayed dinner, he would just cleanse the leftover poison from his system first before that.

The snow felt nice, soft and cool, it melted in his small hands and the cool water sipped through between his short fingers. Some birds with their black winter-feather circled above the landings, he pretended to look up at them, while stealing glances at his nurturer's door to his humble room. Their eyes met as his nurturer was actually staring at him with a gentle smile and a nice flush on his face, leaning on the doorframe with both hands folded on his front in a relax pose, he looked like he was expecting something.

"Bland, it's cold; come inside..!" he said softly.

The beastling glanced at him again with uncaring stare then back to grey layers of clouds, ignoring the flying birds that were hastily going back to their nests before night settled down. 'As if you care' his eyes said.

He tried to call out several more times, but his Bland ignored him all the same. So, he's really mad…his mind thought.

He walked towards his beastling and bent down, "Bland, let's go inside--.." a small snowball hit him on the face cut his words; his beastling turned at him with a deathly surprise on his infant face, it seemed that he didn't mean it to really hit him. The snow slid down from his face; there were wet trails running down his cheeks from it, the stunned beastling hurriedly moved on his four and stood, wiping his wet face with the oversized shirt's sleeve with his jerky movements.

"It's okay, let's go inside. Your shirt is all wet..!" he scooped up his beastling and walked back into his room.

"See..? You're cold..!" he smiled as he stripped his Bland's wet shirt and watched him shivered on the sink. Fire was not allowed in the Tower, that's what made the Old Counselor was very concern with his well being the first time he moved in to the place, now that he thought of it, he might have shortened the poor oldman's live a couple years worrying over his spoilt Prince back then. After nurturing his beastling he could learn to see through the oldman's perspective little by little, it taught him to be receptive of others' feelings; he might turned into a premature father now, his mind jested.

After hanging the wet shirt to dry, he bundled up his small beastling's body in his father's cloak, took him to the bed, seated him on the laps of his crossed legs, pressing the small shivering bundle to his chest until it stopped trembling. The clouded blood-red gems stared at his face openly, a tinge of fear was in those orbs; his face looked he was started to get sleepy once he warmed up; perhaps he was tired from lacking food as well.

"Here…" he presented his open hand to the beastling's face, "Dinner. Take as much as you want..!" he didn't add 'just don't bite my fingers off' even though his mind thinking it, he was sure his beastling wouldn't intentionally hurt him; he understood it instinctively through his blood-link since after the first time he finished feeding him.

The beastling stared him with wide inquiring eyes, glanced back at the shelf where the basket of his nurturer's empty tableware was kept before got exchanged with a new one by the counselor the next day. He seemed like he was beginning to understand that normal meal should be served and eaten on those things, maybe he'd been thinking about it when his nurturer didn't allow him to feed from his finger. He looked back up to his nurturer's eyes, as if asking him whether it was really alright for him to have his usual share.

"Go on..! Here, this part is more juicy, right..?" seeing that his starving beastling restraint himself, he pulled his sleeve up a little, exposing his white wrist showing arteries pulsing strongly with blood. There was a flash of wild light in his beastling's eyes, perhaps it was his hunger clawing up, but again the beastling looked up at him as if waiting for something.

"What? Just bite it like the way you used to..!" he said stroking the beastling's temple with his other thumb; it seemed like the beastling knew that when he feed from him he was actually hurting him, maybe he thought he'd mind about it and that's why he hadn't fed him these passed days. He sighed, kissed his forehead lightly and whispered gently in his ear, "Look, my teeth are not as sharp as yours; so it would be more painful if I do it for you, okay..?"

Bland eventually surrendered to his hunger, he opened his small mouth and slowly covered his nurturer's wrist with it; he seemed to have some doubts as he lingered doing it, and after licking it a few times as if apologizing, he took a fast shallow bite just enough to make the skin bled. His nurturer's other hand was stroking his back, and that's why he knew the small body was shivering. "What, Bland? Why are you crying..?" his gentle voice whispered in his ear again; he took several more gulps and released the bleeding wrist, licking the broken skin like an animal trying to heal its wound.

"Well, if you're not up to it, you can have your share again in the morning. Just remember that you might not be able to have it for some time after that..!" he said with furrowed brows.

His Bland whimpered long and sorrowful, that alerted him, the small hands reached up to his face as he stood up on his laps, cupping his cheeks with them. Tears welled up from his clear blood-red orbs, his hurting stare asked him questions without words.

'are you sick?'

'are you hurting?'

…he might have tasted the difference in his blood, no matter how careful he tried to cleanse the poison from his system; that's why his beastling misunderstood and thought that he was sick.

He hugged the crying bundle close, "Alright, we'll continue this tomorrow morning, then…" and decided that what ever he'd say to his beastling might be futile to urge him to eat more, he thought that it was still early to sleep, but it's alright to just lay down and coddled him once in a while.

After crying himself to sleep, along with his worries out, his beastling's hunger seemed to win the battle the next morning as he was feeding himself until he looked like he was going nauseous. He chuckled watching his beastling tried to treat his bitten wound with a wrap; he's cute just like other toddlers were, his mind thought, if he were to hatch in the palace with him still being the crowned prince he might not get to feed from his blood at all. But he realized as his left hand felt like cramped for hours after his beastling fed from it that he would be sick if that condition continues, he must find a way to escape the poison's effects at some intervals so his beastling wouldn't have to feed himself to sick, too. He wondered what would happen if the beastling actually overfeeding his blood….or maybe that's what his step-cousin wanted to find out..? He did it just to satisfy his curiosity over such thought?

That thought made him angry; somehow he didn't want to face the Counselor bringing his food that day, so he skipped to the underground chamber with his beastling along until it was way passed noon. When he did come back to his room he was surprised to find a sword-model made of a column-like stick as its blade hidden under the napery. Judging the length of it it's impossible that the Counselor had it hidden in the food basket, he must have had it under his robe, perhaps tied it to his leg. He lifted it with both hands, surprise at the weight of that slender thing. "…heavy!" he complimented; he tried to lift it with his foot, he sweatdropped as it didn't budge. He never imagined the humble man such as that Counselor could have such strength to do something like that, climbing the so many stairs up hiding the model's weight as there at least one guard tailing him; perhaps he was once a swordman before he became a counselor? The man might be concerned about his royal lineage if he didn't get his knightry education properly. His mind thought back; wait, what was the counselors' purpose in the palace-life again..? They're not servants, they had them including the maids; they're not knights or soldiers, also; they're just lining up along the corridors….and sometimes followed the royal-bloods along tailing them acting as an additional shadow; or serve them…ah, there are chamberlain-counselors, he thought……annnd, librarian-counselors, outfield-counselors, legislator-counselors…? And whatelse-counselors…..

Yup, he'd forgotten about that; that was taught to him when he was about 5 or something…. He guessed he was an ignorant spoilt child that time.

He looked at the bigger sized bowl, tasted the soup with the tip of the spoon, coughed at the hot-bitter taste burning his tongue; he furrowed a little, assessing the alien thing's effect mixed in the soup. He lifted his brows in a mild surprise; it actually the medicine that had antivenom effect to the previous poison; but his mind complained at the taste. So he sat on the chair, stared at the things set on the table before him; a cool winter breeze blew in from the door to the landings he left ajar, something felt hot in his eyes. There were many simple kindnesses that had him grown that he'd never realized or appreciated; he'd grow as a better person, that's what he could do to show his gratefulness to those who had given those kindnesses to him all his life.

He smiled, blinking back the tears from his eyes; tomorrow he'd greet the humble man with a smile, he thought.

---------------

He found that exercising his body in the underground chamber could regulate the poison from his system faster, so he could feed his beastling his proper share every three days. To his gratefulness the Counselor didn't mix the medicine into his soup again after that day; he suspected that it was an expensive thing now that his uncle ruled the country viciously; he didn't want to burden others more so he tried to train himself to face what might come his way by himself.

Time passed by without many significant incidents; it's been a year since then, he watched gladly as his Bland had grown to almost a 5-year old boy. He'd learnt to speak simple conversation, he liked to hum songs to himself, and piling pebbles he gathered from down the Tower when he was out playing by himself. Sometimes he brought him some souvenirs from his outing; twigs, flowers, rocks, seeds, sometimes even small animals' bones; anything that caught his interest when he played outside.

Sometime he got worried about the people that might cross ways with him, so he took his chances and remodeled his father's cloak into a robe just like the counselor's, so there won't be some hunters or beast-tamers who'd catch him outside; he realized he might be pushing things too much, but he didn't want anything to happen to his little beast. If that happened he wasn't sure he could face it.

Bland cooed to him as he finished putting the very oversize robe on his small body, he laughed at the sight of his Bland drowned in the black velvet robe, "You must grow at least three times taller, Bland..!", he never realized how tall his late father was.

Bland cooed again inquiringly, even though he seemed like he didn't understand about the situation but he understood that his nurturer was joyful. "Hmmm….what should I do with these..?" he voiced his mind as he tried to trick the fluttering sleeves to a proper form. "Right, I'd just tie them to the back..?"

He laughed, "Like ribbons behind a girl's dress, Bland. How's that fit you?"

Bland tried to move his short hands as he slipped them from the neck opening, but then the shoulders fell from his small form, along with the rest of the robe as it pooled on his feet.

"Ah…." He complained, scratching behind his neck; "Don't, I'm going to make it work..!" he said as the small Beast floated out from the fallen robe on the floor.

"Maybe like this…!" he cut the stitches on the shoulders a little, made them as the openings to slip his beast's hands as he tied the long sleeves around his small waist like a sash and tied them behind. He hummed as he stared at the excessive length of the robe, Bland was floating about his face high while he was sitting on his bed; that's about the height of his own waist, but the end of the long robe was still pooling on the floor. They both stared at it without a sound.

"….You could float higher..!" he summed it up staring his Bland's face seriously.

"…waackh..!" his Bland made a protesting sound, he liked running around when he didn't have to float in the air; especially running around his nurturer's legs when he walked.

"…okay; I'll try to slip it here..!" he slipped the end's rim under the tied sleeves around his waist. The robe got shorter, but the whole proportion of the cloth looked more like girl's nightgown. He snickered to himself and chuckled long, while his Bland made a series of protesting sounds, trying to pull the folded robe's end from his waist. "No..! It got shorter, right..?! You at least can run around with such length, just be careful don't trip on it..!" he stopped the small hands; "Okay? Look, you even have a hood to shield off the sunlight or the rain..!" he put the large hood on and his laughter brayed out as the hood swallowed his Bland's head to his whole neck under his shoulder line.

"……uwAAAACKhhh…!!" his Bland's hands flailed around in his impatience to get rid of the offending thing blocking his sight.

"Hey, Bland, don't do that..!" he caught the flailing hands and waited until his Bland stared at his face, "That cloth is important for me, you too are important for me. Wear it for me, okay..?"

Bland stared fixedly at his nurturer's eyes persuading him soulfully, he succumbed at last, just because he couldn't really deny his nurturer's wish. "…aaaghh…!" he answered with a pouting scowl.

"Good boy..!" his nurturer stroked his head a couple times.

Bland then floated away from him, out to the landing where he used to run chasing the birds; but only a couple steps he tried he already fell face down as his feet got tangled by the long robe. His nurturer's laughter exploded somewhere from inside his room; he was enjoying this, his beast-mind complained, but he liked hearing the sound of his laughter.

---------------

He knew he was pushing it a little over his lines, but he was willing to do it for his Bland.

It was a hot summer, the air was unpleasantly humid and felt salty by the wind from the sea; he was taking a nap with his Bland after exercising in the underground chamber; the heat of the air outside made him sleepy as the underground chamber was always much cooler than the surrounding's temperature. He stirred up from mild sleep as he felt roughened fingers traced his open front lightly, he knew from the scent in his room who it was; opening his eyes a slit, he stared evenly at his step-cousin looming above him.

"You look good..!" his step-cousin said low appreciating him. Then he backed away and dragged the single chair from the table to sit near the bed. Folding his hands, he smirked at the sight of the blond teenager sitting up on the bed, his ignorant beast was still asleep at his side blissfully, he covered the black bundle with the thin blanket but he had already seen it, the black velvet cloth; the blond's eyes stared his grey eyes levelly, being an exiled prince with barely adequate requirements didn't weaken him, he still held his royal-blood proudly. Still made him envious like the first time he set his eyes on him long ago…

He didn't know what his step-cousin appreciated, he caught something unholy in the way he'd said it, but he didn't really understand what he meant; so he just pretended that his step-cousin was talking about his health and nothing else. "You look well yourself..!" he said softly.

There was something flashing in his step-cousin's grey eyes, he didn't avert his eyes from it, something alerted his mind from deep inside him, but he held his pride. "…you don't even understand what I was talking about, do you..?!" his step-cousin's eyes stared all over his figure, as if swallowing him; his eyes paused at the sight of his neck, the long blond locks cascaded on it along his shoulders made him look delicate; the way his eyes stared hungrily made him regretted he didn't tie his hair before taking the nap.

"What do you want…?" he asked flatly.

"You won't regret yourself asking me that..?!" his step-cousin's smirk got wider.

"If you don't have anything with me--…" the sooner he left them alone, the better, his mind warned.

"Not with you, with your little beast, there..!"

He clamped his mouth; he knew it that he was pushing his lines, and it's not like he wanted to hide the fact that he'd put the stolen cloak on his beast, on the contrary he meant it so everyone would see it, right..? He didn't think his uncle would see it as something alerting, though; it was only a floor-mat for him.

"Your beast stole something from my father's chamber, did he not…?"; his mind pointed that his step-cousin didn't call his beast 'it'.

"He was complaining that he couldn't wipe his shoes on a certain floor-mat anymore..!"

He didn't take the bait; he knew his step-cousin was trying to make him angry.

Seeing that the blond's face didn't change, he stopped beating around the bushes. "It's not about the floor-mat, really; it's about the fact that he could slip into the Lord's chamber without anyone knowing it. Who knows what you taught him to do behind--…?" he left it hanging intentionally.

His eyes hardened; "My beast is my responsibility--…" he paused with alert as his much bigger step-cousin stood up from the chair; if they wanted to take away his Bland from him because of the cloak then it would be such a pity irony, right?

His step-cousin closed the distance of a couple steps away and bent his body above his, intimidating him with his taller more mature body; he enjoyed it as the blond clamped his mouth shut half sentenced, staring at his grey eyes from his lower view, his right hand half-consciously went to his sleeping beast as if protecting him. He smirked again, took the hanging shining locks from the side of his face and smelled it deeply once, actually feeling it when the blond stiffened. Then bent lower and slowly craned his neck to whisper breathlessly in the blond's ear, "…if you please me, I might overlook things…!"

After that, without waiting for his answer, his step-cousin closed his mouth with his, pushing the back of his head forward with the hand that was holding his hair before. He was taken by the surprise that his body took physical action before his mind sorting it; he pushed the built chest from his front and hit his step-cousin's face with a fist. "Get out..!!" he snarled.

His step-cousin tsk-ed licking his bleeding lips, he turned with a darkened stare at him and jumped on him, pushing his smaller body onto the bed; both hands strangling his lithe neck with all his strength. He widened his eyes as his breath got cut off; looking up at his step-cousin's crazed eyes he knew he really meant to kill him.

"Halb-….wha-….?!" He tried to call out, both hands trying to pull his step-cousin's hands from his neck futilely; he made a couple more choked sounds, realizing gravely that the stronger hands clutching his neck put more and more power each time he let out a choked sound, as if trying to break his neck to prevent his voice out. He tried clawing at his step-cousin's upper arm with his right hand, his eyes wet by the suffocation and pain.

Seeing at his unbidden tears, his step-cousin barked hoarsely, "You know I always wanted to be higher than you..!! You were enjoying yourself knowing that, huh?!!"

The commotion woke his beast up, he didn't really see it but his step-cousin's left hand swung to hit the plunging beast in the air, made the small body hit the wall hard; he used the chance to struck his face with all his strength he could muster, and kicked his bigger body from on top of him to the floor. The moment he was free, he sat up covering his beast's body with his own, coughing hardly trying to take as much oxygen as he could with his hurting throat as he felt his awareness faltered.

There was a low groan from the floor, his step-cousin stood up staggering a little, snapping his head to the sides to clear his consciousness. He smirked with blood ran from his mouth seeing his crouching form gasping hardly by the wall of his bed, clutching the small beast's form who was hissing and snarling despite his bleeding forehead, preventing the beast from launching himself at him. His step cousin chuckled deeply feeling self-satisfaction, ignoring the bleeding from his mouth dripping hardly to the floor, and the pain.

The blond breathed hard for some more time, "….get out of my room, Halberd..!" he hissed hoarsely with eyes shooting poison. His step-cousin's chuckles stopped at the mention of his name; perhaps he didn't think he remembered it. He gasped as the not chuckling Halberd kneeled on the edge of the bed and bent forward to him, propping his body with his hands. He pulled his Bland and pressed his flailing form to his front with both hands, covering the beast's protesting mouth while he kept him close.

"Then…." His step-cousin began, "…is it okay if I confiscate _this_..?!" he was going to touch the beast's head.

He sprung to his feet and ran out across the landing to the door to the underground chamber, threw his protesting beast in and closed the heavy steel door. "Don't come in to my room before I say so..!!" he yelled, ignoring his beast's screeches from behind the door; then he came back to his room, breathing heavily as he stood at the door closing the panel using the weight of his leaning body; eyes stared his step-cousin on his bed like a hawk. He was smirking with a victorious smile as the blond took off the loose shirt from his lithe body.

He walked to the bed keeping his head high, "Ten whips for thievery, I'll take them for my beast's deeds..!" he said offering the shirt; that was the hardest punishment when his father was still ruling the country.

His step-cousin chuckled again, went hysterical with it. He stopped suddenly, staring his eyes with a dark gleam, "I could make the lashing pleasurable if you want…!" his left hand already fingering the whip hung from his waist with suggestive touches. He was right when his step-cousin said that he didn't understand what he was talking about, but he could feel it that what his step-cousin suggesting was something degrading; he slapped the shirt to his face, let it fell to his laps.

"If you don't want me higher than you, then don't lower yourself, Halberd..!!" he said with a steel voice.

"Right…!" his step-cousin leered openly, throwing the fallen shirt on his laps aside, he stood before him looking down at his lower face; they were so close their fronts almost touching each other. "Kneel, then…Prince Milliard..!!" he added the last part with a sugar-coated tone, but the evil gleam in his grey eyes betrayed his own voice.

He stared him back for some time; then turned around presenting his unblemished back to his step-cousin, walked a couple steps away from him and knelt down; bracing himself for what's going to come, but didn't show it outside. He was still a prideful boy…

Halberd took his time giving his blond step-cousin his lashing; he wanted to hear his higher voice to sound his pain, but the prideful boy didn't give in.

When he got to count the sixth strike, the door to the landing thrown open and the small beast came shooting in with a hysterical scream. His nurturer's hand was instantly caught him and pulled his small body into his embrace, keeping him down while the hysterical-laughing Halberd whipped him using more strength, wanting the screaming little beast to feel it too. That happened so fast that he didn't remember his pain; after his ten counting finished, his step-cousin stood still breathing hard, staring at the bleeding welts and torn skin on the once unblemished back; that once even the poisonous sting of the Callous-tail didn't leave its mark.

His Bland was crying, screaming until he got a nosebleed…He stared again; no, that blood was dripping from somewhere above his tear-stained face. He blinked; oh, it was his own blood; he must have bit his lower lip broken, he thought as his mouth filled with a tangy liquid. He glanced back from his shoulder, his step-cousin was breathing hard with the bloody whip held limply in his dangling hand; he looked like a child who'd broken his only toy.

…_perhaps he did_….. He thought as the grey eyes started to get wet.

His step-cousin suddenly turned his body to the door, and left without anything to say, his whip was still held in his hand; that's the last thing he was aware of seeing. He heard the wooden door closed, and he didn't realize it when his sight turned pitch black. There was the sound of a sorrowful howling beast so very close to him, but he didn't have enough strength to care….

---------------

He stirred up somewhat finding himself lying on his front on the bed, his hot thickened back was being wiped using a cold wet cloth; it felt good, despite the stinging feeling. His mind remembered about the old-Counselor who raised him; he didn't aware of it, but he might have said something about it. He felt the steady gentle hand wiping his back stopped for a while; then he heard a gentle voice of a man next to his ear.

"Please rest well, my Prince…"

He knew it wasn't his old-Counselor he'd been missing like his own grandfather, but his mouth seemed to have a mind of its own as he thought he was calling the man as him; after that he fell asleep feeling his Bland's small hands holding his hand gently.

---------------

---------------


	24. Virion affixmode: Children of winds 3

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku**

**Children of Winds (Virion's story) **

**3. The scenery a pureblood saw from the high-view**

**Disclaimer:** G-boys not saru', including Zechs….but there's actually no G-boys in this part, so perhaps saru should just say 'Zechs is not mine'……..though no one calling him Zechs in this part…….-sweatdrop-

_**Warning:**_ _angst, slight abuse, no H scene (even if u want it)….n"n_

Recovering from the incident was more about the heart than of body; his Bland became very possessive over him that at some point it made him sorted to locking the small beast outside on the landing instead of having him literally pestering his leg like a good leech. The wounds left shallow scars on his back, perhaps since he was not as young as he was when he received the Callous-tail attack that his self-healing ability was reduced by his maturity.

His step-cousin didn't show up for a very long time after that day, it's not like he missed his contempt, though; but somehow the look of him with wet defeated eyes after he gave him the lashings burnt in his mind; either it was pity or just because of loneliness towards his step-cousin. True, Halberd was the only person beside the Counselor who visited him, having his world filled with only the statuesque sleeping-Dragon in the underground chamber, and the inhumane Obelisks along the glaze-stones, and his hyperactive possessive beast, and the solemn Counselor bringing him food and sometimes books; he thought he missed some more human touch.

Sometimes he wondered whether his uncle had forgotten that he ever existed at all since he never even once visited or made malicious efforts against him; it's not like he didn't grateful for that, but it was just…because his uncle Marquisse could try it if he wanted to, right..? It's not like there was someone that could stop him for even trying, right? Not when the whole country was in his hands to do as he pleases, right…?

The gentle breeze played with his long bangs, the great hawk flew circling the sky far above him for the past hour as if keeping him company; something nudged his mind as he thought about his uncle. Yes, there was something that he'd said when he condemned him in that trial, what was that..?

…_I'll erase your name from the Kingdom's Lineage…!! -_or something like that. He smiled at the floating memory; he wasn't in his sharpest mind that day, so the memory was felt like he was seeing through a peek-hole watching an aquarium. Ah, right; his uncle might had really done that, erasing his name…that something-of-a-long-name he could barely remember now; besides he always liked simple names, his beast's name for example.

His mild smile slowly gone from his face as his mind brought another bubble of thought to the surface, the unsolicited thought about the OWLs popped out with his surging concern about the well being of his people. Having to live under the fearsome ruler was already hellish-hard, the war might wipe his people almost entirely; if not by the massacre, the war's aftereffects might do the rest; it's not like the country could survive the famine caused by the fearsome ruler itself, anyway, along with the rules and taxes and consequences he'd made. He knew, that for the span of almost 10 years his uncle had ruled that his people were almost reduced to halve from the number when his father last ruled. The rebels were divided into groups, minding their vicious ruler and the unseen enemies where there was never any survivor to tell about them after having an encounter; they never made a significance in their struggles, only adding the number of the people who lost their lives in the country's history, not even registered by names.

A sudden heat struck his dry eyes; the coolness of the cloudy weather eased them a little. The sight of the city from the Tower was so distant and trifling; sometimes he could see smokes climbing up to the layers of clouds from the places down, looking like dead people's dissipating hands trying to reach the illusory freedom called the sky, of which almost always hidden by the layers of clouds above that country; but he couldn't see his people's suffering from such a high place where he was kept and assumedly forgotten. Somehow the thriving city full with colors he remembered had turned to a dusty gray humble-stairs of buildings, staring with their quivering round eyes of windows at night; so poor that those quivering lights only stared his Tower to the time their inhabitants took their sleep; then the gray city turned pitch dark like a dead caldera. It felt so cold at night when he realized that more of those quivering lights gone each night. Somewhere he thought he could hear the whispers cursing him for his incapability as the once foretold King. He could hear the dark side of his Pride calling him 'liar' everyday, even though he never pondered that accusation…

The thin paper of the book pages on his laps made a view silent rustling sounds as they turned by the wind, it brought his attention back to the book; he looked down to his crossed legs and remembered what he was reading before his mind strayed, a person's shadow casted on the yellowy pages made him aware of someone standing at his side.

"…Bland, I told you I want to read alone for awhile…!" he said softly to the fluttering black velvet on the floor behind his view.

Bland didn't answer as if he was losing his voice for some time.

"….Master…" when he did answer it was almost heard like he was pleading.

The difference in the breeze made him aware of other people that were on the landing with them, he looked behind from his shoulder finding some lining Counselors stood like mute statues blocking the view of his humble room. It was as if the Fate answered his thought instantly, his mind jested with not so much a pleased feeling; he made a note not to tempt the sharks with his bloody finger next time…

A thousand bubbles of thoughts popped out in his mind in the same time; he couldn't decide which to think first so he stared them evenly from his lower view as he was sitting on the landing's ledge.

Maybe his uncle finally decided that his denial of his existence was futile and that he should eliminate him sooner than later.

The Counselors' robes were different from the ones lining the corridors in his memory; the winds fluttered their loose hoods' backs and he could see a glimpse of the embroidered patterns on the white cloths.

_Ah, yes…the ceremonial-Counselors..!_ His mind finally spoke up. _Oh, this year he turned twenty_, another thought managed to fight its dominance to the surface, _so his uncle decided to make him one of them in the end_...that's why he didn't make any move to erase him from the land of the living, he might thought that keeping him alive but at the impossible distance to the throne was better than killing him, since he might still use him for something if the need come later.

_Impossible distance_…that's right; once he accepted the Altar to be a Counselor-of-what-highest-title they stored for him as the guardian of the sacred Tower he couldn't take his right to the throne anymore. So his uncle really wanted to erase him from his lineage, didn't he?

"….you really want me to take the Altar?" he asked softly to the lining Counselors; their tall pointy hoods made them looked taller than their original heights. The fluttering ornaments made soft tinkling sounds, adding the glory of their garments. It's not like he didn't find them fascinating in their elegant attires, he remembered he used to think that being one of them would look great but he was more proud with his Blood, more than anything….

"Take it..!" a voice answered, the lining Counselors cleared a way in the middle of the line; there stood the always cloudy looking Halberd in his usual black leather outfit, "…It's not a request, Cousin..!" he looked fully matured in the past 4 years he hadn't seen him.

His mind pointed that his step-cousin left the word 'step' before addressing him as a cousin, "So, I take it you already have a new name for me, Halberd..?" he asked evenly staring back at the book on his laps, as if he couldn't care less about them.

"It's the Altar or the--.."

"Grave..?" he cut in, already knowing the options; in the back of his mind he registered his Bland whimpered silently. "I'd rather not to have both of the options, step-cousin..!" he added conversationally.

"It's not optional where you could decide not to choose, Milliard..!" He could hear his step-cousin's teeth gritted.

_Ah, for how many years had it been since he last heard someone called his name..?_ His mind made another conversation in his head. _Almost 10 years, wasn't it?_

"Make me, then…" Now he's challenging the sharks to actually bite more than just his bloody finger, his mind chuckled. "……I'll do as you bid if you could get pass my Blood..!"

The sudden sounds of things broken in his room answered him. He knew, when their eyes met just now, that after not seeing him for the past 4 years, his step-cousin was trying to deny that light burning in his grey eyes that once was almost died by his own tears after he'd finished giving him the lashings; and it exploded back to live in only that short meeting of eyes. His step-cousin hated him for that. He couldn't be sure what the light was, but it wasn't something spiteful. He never hated his step-cousin, anyway…

Halberd barged out to his side; he could feel his Bland's body bracing itself to launch at him, or maybe _not_ to. "You think you could get away with yourself like this..?!!" he barked.

The problem was: he didn't think…!

"It wouldn't make any difference whether I take the Altar or the jail, right..? It's more useful than me choosing the grave, right, Halberd?"

A pair of strong hands suddenly grabbed his head and tilted it up, "It's not always about you..!!" his step-cousin hissed to his face from behind. There was that burning light in his eyes again, it seemed like Halberd was aware of him realizing it for he instantly averted his eyes. After his burst of emotion died down, he released his head gently, much to his surprise; probably his step-cousin already matured in heart as well..?

"…what good would a king's bloodline without a kingdom?" Halberd reasoned silently.

He chuckled silently, "As pitiful as it sounded, it's the only thing I have left as 'me', Halberd..!"

"You can't cling to such a pride anymore, Milliard…--!"

He looked behind his shoulder, noticing the defeated tone his step-cousin tried to hide; if he didn't know better he'd say that he was pleading him.

"…..a kingdom without people would only be a ghost-kingdom..!"

"Aah…so you actually understand the concept..!" it wasn't sarcasm, he was genuinely amused.

"This country needs the Dragon, Milliard!" his step-cousin didn't budge.

"Hoo, so now your father wants the Dragon…?" he looked down to the book again, didn't realize when the pages had turned by the winds.

"Too bad but I can't wake the Dragon as I please, Halberd; if I could from long ago I wouldn't be here now…!" he let his step-cousin interpret it as he pleased. Halberd silenced for some time but he could feel his eyes burned at him, it was as if he was missing him; perhaps he really was ….._missing his only toy_, his mind whispered.

"Then, ….the Obelisks..!" There was a tinge of hesitation in his tone.

"The Obelisks are the Ancestors', they're not mine to use freely. They're the heritage for the next pure-blooded king, not the pure-blooded prince, Halberd, if you could understand the difference…?" this time he intended a little sarcasm, he was getting annoyed with this ridiculous conversation. Being alone for so many years meant that he didn't have a lot of patience once it's disturbed; he made a mind-note to work that out by himself.

"Then what good are you being kept alive..?!" his retort was instant and said in a growl, it made his Bland reflexively made a hidden hiss at him.

He smirked to himself. His step-cousin turned his back in a snap he could hear the swishing sound in the wind.

"The war is just an excuse. They already raised the tax again, didn't they? They don't need war-fee if they ask me to use the Obelisks eventually..!"

Halberd stopped in his walk to the room, the ceremonial-Counselors didn't move the slightest, only their ornaments fluttered in the wind made their own characteristic sounds marking their presence there.

"….it used to be a nice view from up here…!" he meant the city view down the Tower; it's his reminder of his purpose the whole time of his exile.

A cynical snicker, "So you still like the higher view..!" with that his step-cousin left the Tower, leaving the ceremonial-Counselors still lining the view of his room as if blocking the sunlight from the landing wall's windows. They'd be there for at least three days, he knew, incase he'd change his mind.

---------------

"…Mu--u…!" Bland climbed the bed very slowly, it seemed he was minding the ceremonial-Counselors' companies still lining the landing's wall.

The night sky was exceptionally clear that night, some great hawks and night birds apparently agreed to just use that time to quest the sky. And his Bland seemed fond of that idea, too; he thought as he saw the hungry glints in his shining blood-red orbs. He pulled his left hand out of the cover of the blanket, it was cold as well so he pulled the sleeve using his teeth, and let it laid on the pillow next to his head. Bland peeked from behind his loose hood at the lining ceremonial-Counselors' backs that were could be seen from the windows, it looked like as if they're only statues or stylist scarecrows for not moving the slightest bit for the past three days, sometime he wondered why those humans titled as counselors could do such a thing, like lining the corridors and such.

It was the third night, so it's his feeding time; no, actually he'd delayed it for a day so his hunger couldn't take the wait anymore; or else he wouldn't show his beastly nature in the presence of some strangers, feeding made him feel vulnerable, it was the moment when he needed his Master the most and that he showed it physically.

He noticed the small shivers his nurturer's made when his hand was exposed to the chill air, so he took off the velvet robe and spread it on the blanket and wormed under the cloths to warm his nurturer's body with his body heat. His nurturer closed his eyes again, his breath slowed to a sleeping rhythm in no time. He stared at his face for sometime, after licking his wrist as a habit he bit the white wrist and took his usual share, his eyes kept staring his Master's relaxed sleeping face; he'd become used to the process that he didn't waken by the pain of the bite.

The thoughts of his nurturer lulled him to sleep, and in his subconscious he called forth the fond memories of his nurturer's to guard his dream and chase away the lurking nightmares ready to devour his human-mind. It's one thing only he could do to repay his nurturer for everything he'd given him.

A derisive snort woke him from his light sleep, he was always aware of his nurturer's surrounding since the day Halberd gave him he lashings, it was as if his sense of possessiveness had gotten awaken by the incident. As expected, there stood his nurturer's step-cousin staring him with his condescending eyes, they were burning with an unholy fire for a moment that he couldn't help it and attempted a mind-touch to his thought. For some reason he was afraid of what he'd read or see from the human's thought, so he cautiously only touched the surface of what he thought at the time, and the feeling of exposal was like a slap to his mind.

Bland gasped and pulled the blanket that at some point in their sleep had pooled between their bodies and thus exposed one of his bare legs. He was already with the body of about a 12-year old boy now; the shirt his nurturer gave him when he was still 14 almost fitted his body, while for the undergarment he only wore a loin-cloth with a long frontal flap that he made himself along with the hand-dye painting on it.

Halberd lifted the one chair to face the bed without a sound. He sat crossing his hands with his despotic air around him. "So…is that how it is…?" he asked flatly with a flat tone as if actually summed up the situation as he liked. "Well, I must say that he has the eyes to spot pretty things…!"

The compliment made him feel nauseous.

Halberd chuckled to himself, "….yeahh..!" he said agreeing with something his mind thought, leering openly.

It made him wanted to vocal his denial to whatever the human thought about his Master, the anger started to make him dizzy, but he restraint himself; he didn't want to wake his Master from his peaceful sleep. Especially not to _this-human_'s company…!!

Halberd pondered about something as he eyed the beast lying on the single bed staring him back with his naïve defiant eyes. It seemed that the beast knew what he was thinking; but he wasn't really hiding it, though, he chuckled again deeper. The beast apparently decided to show that he was extremely annoyed with his presence for he slowly sat up minding not to wake his nurturer; then, he looked at him like he would eyeing an enemy he's ready to attack.

"I'll tell you what…!" Halberd had an idea and voiced it with a leering smirk, "What if you give me your consent, and your master can walk out of this place…!" he baited.

_Consent? ….consent for what..?!_ The eyes staring the human in front of him spoke of his thought openly; it made Halberd wanted to break them more and more, that innocence and such naivety.

"I'll be your master, and that human over there could have the palace life again..!" Halberd pointed his nurturer with his chin.

He blinked; "….I have Master; why would I look for another human?!" the beast said with genuine confusion; it seemed the reasoning didn't pass his beast-rules and logics.

Halberd's snicker exploded, "Don't you understand my offer, beast..?!"

The beast's blood-red eyes shining with anger told him that he actually understood what he's offering; it just didn't pass his principles.

"Just plead him to wear that attire; no one will contempt him anymore once he has a title back..!" Halberd pointed the ceremonial-Counselor attire specially made for his pure-blooded cousin folded neatly on the table for the last three days; it seemed no one had touched it.

"Master said 'no'..!" Bland gave him a stern look.

"My father would kill him if he won't..! So there's only left you to talk to him; he'd listen to you, right…?"

"Master said 'NO'..!!" Bland bared his sharp teeth to show he meant it.

"Then, his doom would be in your hands….?" Halberd stared the beast with a moderate smile and perceptive eyes; and he still made it sound like a question, his eyes shone in the dark room while what-light of the dawn's that had managed to get pass the lining ceremonial-Counselors silhouetted his figure from his back..

That sudden change of the usually haughty human made Bland started in surprise; it frightened him to some extent, even though he didn't want to admit it.

"You think you alone could protect his life, little beast..?"

Bland gritted his teeth; of course he would, he'd protect his Master with everything he got, right?!

Halberd stood up, knowing what exactly running in the beast's mind; moreover it showed all over his face. He grasped the tiny chin and forced his face facing upward to his face, intimidating the naïve beast with his taller body. "What about his desires..? You don't care about them?"

He leaned forward, making their faces almost touching each other, knowing full well that someone else's closeness influenced the beast so much that he started to tremble slightly. "So…could you take their suffering in your hands, as well…?" and he let the knowledge of the people's suffering flowed trough his hand into the beast's mind.

"……..ugh…" Bland wanted to get away from that almost gentle hand, but he couldn't find his strength to pull his head backwards, nor that he could feel his head as his alone as the knowledge of the sufferings of people out there filled his mind like his second-memories surfaced. His eyes started to get wet, and he tried to call out to his Master, but he could only manage a poor moan.

"See? People are suffering; do you want to know what they think of your master…?" Halberd whispered with his angelic tone. The beast could only gasped weakly closing his defiant eyes, a couple of tears trailed down his cheeks unbidden, he wished he could be strong enough to be his Master's guardian; especially at a time like this, _that-human_ didn't even attack him physically.

"Halberd..! If you have anything related to my beast's misconduct, if there's any, talk to me..!" his Master's even voice heard like a lifeline. The relief made his beast whimpered calling out to him.

"Ah, morning, cousin..!" Halberd said conversationally and let go the beast's chin, sitting back on the chair. "Still a 'no'..?" he asked casually.

"You knew my answer..!" he sat up as if providing his beast his body to lean on.

Halberd chuckled flatly, "Still a prideful boy, aren't you, Milliard? You just don't know how to lower your head, hu..?!"

"Did they teach you to do it?" he asked back evenly.

His step-cousin didn't say anything more; he only smirked widely with eyes burning at him for some time. After that he stood up, snapped his fingers two times calling the ceremonial-Counselors to follow him out, leaving the folded attire on the table intentionally.

"….I'm sorry, Master…!" his Bland whispered after they're gone from that room, "I'm sorry…!!"

He embraced his beast's trembling body to lean on his, "You're allowed to call out for my help, Bland..!" he covered his crying face with his other hand; his beast's delicateness almost made him having second thought about getting out of that room ever again, his nurturing sense built for years made him wanted to protect his beast from his own harsh world; if only he could set him free...

His Master's thought shrouded him like a blanket, it made him feel safe, but he didn't get crushed because of the mental attack on him, it was what directed to his Master that had him defeated, what they thought of him, what that-human thought of him….

"….I'm sorry, Master….!" He repeated with a pleading voice.

He sighed, "Don't brood over it..!" and that's all he could say about that.

---------------

That day was apparently a fated day that would change their humble lives in the Tower, it even occurred without him knowing or realizing it. The Counselor brought him his food as always, at the exact time as he always did everyday; and he waited until his Sire told him that he could leave. It had become their bonding ritual for years, sometimes they would talk about trivial things, while the things they couldn't talk openly was exchanged in actions, simple things such the threads tied in the napery's borders, or the bookmarker ribbon's colors, or the knots of the rope tying the sash at his waist, …that was the code for poisoned food.

He sat in his chair trying to look casual as usual, frowning a little at the knots of the Counselor's rope at his waist, which he usually managed to hide from probing eyes with his loose sleeves as the Counselors usually had their hands put together in such ways at their front; he'd never seen so many knots the Counselor made with his rope, nor the form of the knots itself that it almost made a stylish of flowerbud-like.

The Altar or grave…! His mind reminded the options given to him earlier. Oh, yes…the flowers presented to unborn babies in annual ceremony when his father still ruled, the buds were the epitomes of the babies' lives and symbolized in the stylish knots usually made of the mother's hair.

So, it's a deadly poison this time?

He wetted his forefinger with the soup, rubbed it with his thumb for a while, the poison might be deadly to commoners, but with quite of amount; the soup only had half the dose that would kill a human instantly, in its amount it would only make someone fall ill for sometime, whether the person would survive or die would depend to the person's antibody. He crossed the effect with his immune system, his Blood could fight the harmful substance traced on his fingers almost instantly; years of trying to cleanse his blood to feed his beast had become a perfect training for such a hazard. He suspected that the Counselor had known it too and that's why he'd only given half a dose into the soup, so that his immune system could distinguish the poison and prepare his body to survive it. Still, he knew consuming it would hinder his daily activities to some extent.

He nodded, "You may leave, Counselor..!"

The Counselor stood still for a moment, then bowed slowly and deeply to him, paused when his head was at the lowest position; it was his genuine apology regretting his helplessness to defend his Sire, he walked out the room still keeping his face downward.

He saw the man walked out without anything else; propping his chin with his hand he sighed deeply, he was grateful that his Bland seemed like having other things he'd found more interesting than having the Counselor in his space; it's been a while since the beast watched that man bringing food to him as he rather occupied himself with something else outside. At first he found it odd, since it definitely the opposite of his possessiveness over him, but he thought his Bland might already accepted the Counselor as someone of his Master's circle. So he let it pass his mind.

Silently he began spooning the soup into his mouth, the sharp taste made him cringe; it burned his tongue after sometime. The loaf bread had something else mixed in it, he coughed as the excessiveness of the effort was not even tried to be concealed, it made him wanted to laugh but the dry bread almost made him choked instead. He could only finish half the soup and a little of the bread; he suspected his step-cousin actually intended a mental attack rather than trying to kill him instantly, or making him die slowly of hunger. Well, he guessed his Bland must take a diet since now.

The white snow fell down silently out the windows, he glanced at the grey weather and his eyes clouded a little, what's with the first snow and his misfortune, anyway..?! As if the prelude presaging the bleak frozen winter he'd have right after.

The stairs were spiraling down caged by the walls at the core of the towering structure and its opposite wall. It's a one way up or down that was only a two-people width. The Counselor climbed down the stairs with his usual solemn generic air around him, trying to be indistinctive as best he could. Another figure in black velvet robe blocked his way in the middle of the way down, he knew that someday that judgment would come to his face; he just never thought that the judgment took a very long time to face him. Even so, the blood-red eyes staring him didn't have even a slight of hatred; he hid a smile, satisfied that his Sire had taught the beast to have such a fine personality. After this they will face a fiercer fate, he only wished that both of them will survive just as they were.

The Counselor gave Bland a small nod when he passed him by, his steady steps didn't falter even for a little bit.

He thinned his lips as the sounds of the Counselor's steps sounded getting far away from him.

"….how long are you going to give Master poisoned food..?!"

That flat question made the sounds of the steps stopped, the man stood still for some time. Bland turned to stare at the human from his higher view on the wide-rounding stairs; he looked small with his humble posture in his generic robe.

The beast had figured it out for quite a long time, that once he thought that his nurturer was sick was actually the effect of something he'd eaten; he knew what had made his nurturer sick after he risked a lick at the little drop of the soup left on the floor; his nurturer was always careful with his tableware as he always cleansed them in the sink right after he finished eating, mindful to wipe clean the little spill or drop on the table. It's been three years since then, he kept silent for he didn't want to make his nurturer worry about his feeding.

The Counselor turned to face the beast on the stairs above him, he lifted the hands he put together on his front to his chest level and gave a slow generic bow, then turned again and continued his walk down the stairs. Bland chased him several jumps down but he stopped midway, he'd let the man know that he knew what he's doing and that should be enough for now, he thought to himself. He let out a deep exhale to calm his beastly nature down and went back up to his nurturer's room.

His nurturer wasn't in there; so his first instinct was to search for the basket of food and tableware on the shelf. It wasn't in the room either. He called out his wind to scan the room and didn't find any trace of food his nurturer ate; it made him alerted with his own paranoia. He ran out to the landing and using his wind he blasted to the top landing of the Tower, finding no one, he ran to the steel doors banging on the panels.

"Muu..?!"

No answer, just as he thought; he let his wind loose through the slits between the door panels and the floor, the winds whirled in the tower's staircase and void; Bland knew his nurturer wasn't in there either, he just wanted to make sure. Jumping down, he landed on the lower landing again, exactly on the front of the doors to the underground chamber. He pushed the steel doors, not really surprise finding them didn't budge at all even though he'd used his beastly strength.

He was not allowed to enter…!

"Master..!!" he banged on the doors using both hands, knowing that he couldn't use his wind inside that part of the Tower.

"Masteeerr..!!" he called out louder banging impatiently. There's only one reason why his Master had taken the food basket with him into the underground chamber, he knew, and he didn't want to accept the reality if his move towards the Counselor was too late.

"MASTER, PLEEEASE..!!" he banged the steel doors using his hands and head.

---------------

The dissipated scales swirled and twisted and gathered to where they formed the dragon body again, after the sliced body regained its formation the dragon head roared out the sound of a hurricane, its dark holes of eyes widened as it launched to its target.

He swung the sword up and stood still as the vertically slashed dragon head gave him a gap between the cut, then he made a full round swing at the dragon's neck severing its head from body. The sliced halves of the head fell to either sides of him while the body pulled up taking the distant for another launch; he braced himself with the sword held vertically above his head. The headless dragon dove with everything it had and the sound of the swishing sword heard as it cut the air in front of the diving dragon. The slit in the air ran through the dragon body and sliced it into two.

The pieces of the dragon dissipated again into individual scales flying shapeless like a school of fish in water; before they could form another massive form, he swung his sword repeatedly at the shapeless pieces as if he went berserk. He didn't count himself how many times he'd swung his sword, or how many pieces he'd cut; after some time his vision went blur by his own movements, and as his head felt like swimming he fell on his back after he sliced another piece on his way down. He breathed hard with sweat soaked his whole body, lying on the floor unmoving for a long time.

He heard the faint sound traveled down to him from the doors up there, it's calling him again and again; he tried to slow down his breaths, once his eardrums didn't deafen by his own rapid heartbeat he could hear his Bland's voice calling him in the brink of hysteria. He sighed to himself. The shapeless forms flew circling above his sprawled body with their holes of eyes staring vacantly at him.

((…Sire is not well….!)) the Obelisks in the glaze-stones spoke up in unison.

He let out some deep breaths, feeling his head still swimming in a whirlpool. "…just something I ate..!" he said flatly, closing his eyes. He let the specters inspected him for some time, but before long he fell asleep on the cold floor as it eased his feverish body. A part of his mind pointed to him that his Bland was still screaming for him up at the doors, but his tired mind said that his Bland could survive his own hysteria for the time being; so he cherished the silent companies of the specters and the statuesque Dragon in his own private glaze-stone, and let his Blood cleansed itself while he slept.

---------------

He'd finished all the food from that noon by the evening, since he didn't want his paranoid Bland to get over excited over it; his body had already reacted to fight the poison effects so he thought he didn't have much to complain for that night, except for his tearstained Bland leeching his leg again no matter how hard he tried to make him let go. He compromised thinking that it's kind of a good way to sweat the poison out of his system as well, that sport of dragging his beast attached to his leg everywhere he went; not like he had much places to walk to, anyway…

That night he slept fighting his own body with cold fever, in the midst of his half-awake vertigo he could see the shadow of his Bland's face above his as if shielding him from a scorching sunlight, his feverish mind thought with a jest, maybe it was a vulture's head waiting him to die so it could devour him right after his death. But wasn't he living in the nest of the vultures all this time..? So it's only natural that at least one of them would wait for him to die in his own bed like that.

"Muu….!"

A childish voice called out to him, he pulled his mind from its vertigo ride. "…yes, Bland..?"

"…get well..!" the spoilt tone made him wanted to mess the beast's head, but he couldn't feel his own hands.

"…hnng…!" he made an agreeing sound, "…you are free to go tomorrow..!" he didn't know why he'd said that, but it felt right, something in his mind whispered it.

"…nooo….!!" His Bland sounded like he's beginning to cry again, but it's still sounded so childish so he laughed, or tried to, or maybe he laughed in his mind..? He couldn't distinct what happened anymore so he decided to sleep.

"Muu is Master..!" he thought he could still hear his Bland said it with his possessive childish tone, he thought he answered it with an unconcerned "…okay…." before his mind turned to whirling black.

Out the windows the snow fell silently without a sound, the wind didn't blow; it's as if they didn't want to mark the opening of a darkened day after the night dawned.

His beast hearing could hear the footsteps of many people with heavy outfits, the metal sounds heard every now and then only meant one thing. He got up from the one bed, put on his velvet robe and intended to guard the door to the downward-staircase, but before he reached it the wooden door banged open; and there he stood facing the soldiers in their full-armors with unsheathed weapons in their hands. He widened his eyes, not knowing what was occurring at the moment; he saw it when the club hit the left side of his head, but since he was never opposed by anyone of the palace he didn't dodge it, not knowing whether he was allowed to even resist or not. His Master never stated about what he could and could not do in such condition before.

He heard the impact sound resounded in his ear which wasn't hurting, as if penetrating through from his pained ear, as his body swayed to the side following the direction of the pain piercing his head; he thought if he fell he could brace himself on the bedpost but another thought that he didn't want to involve his Master made his feet stood his ground, even though staggering for a couple steps, but he could manage it. His surprised face must be lack of emotion but he glared at the humans by the doors with his beast-eyes shone with instinct to defend himself. He could taste his own blood trailed from the side of his head into his slack mouth since his body was still tilting to the side after the impact, it made him fully aware that he was in danger and that he should at least reacted with something above their hazard-level.

He made a menacing hiss without a sound at them, showing his sharp bloody teeth. The sight made the humans gasped and gritted their teeth, but they braced themselves with sharp weapons up.

The glints of the metals almost blinded his mind with the awareness of dangers, if he didn't mind of his Master laid in the bed sleeping tiredly for only a couple hours before dawn he'd launch himself at the humans just to make them weaponless as his instinct told him to. He called out for his wind and it whirled around him with blustery sounds; it made his loose hood and robe fluttered. The human soldiers made a sound of fear and presented the club's head to a waiting Counselor, who opened his left palm accepting the drip of the beast's blood left on the wooden club; then covered the space above it with his right palm while he read some chant of a strange language.

Bland knew they were up to something, so he tried to let fly his wind at the lone Counselor stood in the middle of the soldiers on the inner landing, but his wind twisted halfway and swirled as if a living creature in pain, then went back to him in a wide spin with an almost howling sound. That surprised the beast that he was stood frozen, the wind around him twisting in their own hysteria. The Counselor wrote a symbol around the blood drip using the pointy nail-ornament he wore on his right little finger like using a pen and ink of his blood.

And he didn't know what really happened as suddenly he felt like his blood rushed down to the lower parts of his body, making his feet felt like they melted and fused to the floor, and he was left suffocated and lightheaded. The Counselor lifted his left palm above his head facing him; he gravely aware that his wind dissipated instantly as the symbol presented to his sight, even though he didn't recognized what it was; then the palm was brought down slowly, he really didn't know what was happening, he only knew that even though he didn't lost his physical strength he couldn't fight the invisible power pressing his body inside out. And the next thing he knew he was on his knees, gasping for breath, trying to keep his consciousness by the thought of guarding his Master lying vulnerable on his bed. His mind whispered that he should have built a ward by the inner door so that someone wouldn't have the chance to get his blood to fight him with; but his slipping awareness said that it was already too late to even think that…he wanted to scream…his Master said that he could call out to him for help when he need it…if he could only find his voice…..

There were a series of loud sounds near his ears, and he found two soldiers had already gotten into the room, each of them had a pair of spears in their hands they used to cage his neck with; a pair crossed above his neck and another pair crossed under it with the long spear-blade down stabbing the wooden floor, they made it that if they pushed down the upper crossed spears it would make his neck undeniably pressed to the lower spear-blades. And the Counselor still having his left palm open at the direction of his head, that alone already made him unable to move and breathe.

_Something is terribly wrong_…, his mind repeated in panic; if one Counselor could beat him down like that with only a little chant and a drip of his blood, then what would happen if all those lining Counselors were to stand against him...? Somehow his Master had forgotten to mention that the country they lived in was the land of beast-tamers'….he tried to call out to his Master in his heart.

_Something is wrong_. The voice of Instinct echoed in his mind.

'..Master…'

_Something's really wrong!_

'Master..!'

_This's not right!!_

'MASTER..!!'

Then everything's muted, there was an empty moment where everything stopped happening, the pressure stopped pressing him down, his blood stopped being sucked downward, his lungs stopped suffocating, his head stopped thinking, his body stopped trembling, and for a moment he thought he also stopped existing. A little warm wave floated him upward for a short heavenly moment then it threw him down again along with the pains he was suffering.

Bland threw his head down vomiting what-liquid was in his stomach with a loud pained sound; bracing his body with his hands so he wouldn't get decapitated by the spear-blades already made two bleeding cuts at either sides of his neck. After that he could breathe again even though he had to struggle to do it; slowly he could feel his body again, and was aware of the familiar presence in front of him. He looked up just as much as the spears on his neck allowed him to, and found the condescending stare of a despotic Halberd looking down at him with a scroll of paper tied with a black ribbon in his hand.

"You…!" the human stared him down with his chin held high, "…are convicted for killing a palace Counselor, either it was deliberately or not..!" Halberd said low almost hissing it out. There was a mask of satisfaction he didn't even try to hide on his face.

Bland widened his eyes. He tried to speak several times, but he didn't even understand what to be denied, or what to be reasoned; as his voice failed him he could only moved his head a little in a jerky shake, tears welled up from his wet eyes.

_This is not right..!!_ The voice of instinct screamed in his head, numbing his mind as he tried to understand the situation.

Halberd smirked as he saw the beast's face turned ghostly and lack of other emotion except for grave surprise, the beast even forgotten to tremble by his pain. "Take him..!" Halberd pointed behind with a snap of his head. That jerked the beast to motion as he tried to push the spears above him to get free; behind the human he could see another soldier with two pairs of shackles and chains in his hands. A booted foot kicked his middle section hard, he gasped painfully and propped his pained body with a hand, after another second passed his other hand let go of the spear and embraced his stomach as his breath failed him again. The foot turned his chin up; "…or do you want your master to take the responsibility..?!" Halberd said with a steel voice.

He whimpered; he could actually hear the sound rather than feeling it out of his mouth.

"You understand?"

"..good boy..!" Halberd said with a sweet smile, patting the beast's cheek with the inner side of his boot.

"….is this a new wake up call, Halberd..?" a half slurred voice asked from the bed. Then all eyes turned to the bed's occupant sitting up with his eyes still closed.

His Bland made an alarmed sound as if telling him to go, his mind pointed; he opened his still half asleep eyes as the scroll was thrown to his laps. Opening the scroll, he read it cursorily. "…The 66th South Gate Counselor…?" he mumbled it aloud.

"The Counselor who brought you food until yesterday..!" Halberd cut in sharply.

A gasp heard from his Bland, he glanced at him and noticed his bleeding left side of his head despite the hood covering it; he was staring with shocked disbelieving eyes at him, that was why he could see that the beast's left eyeball was blackened by inner bleeding apparently from the head trauma he got; it made him frowned coldly a little. And he'd already overlooked the bleeding cuts on his neck, his mind hissed.

"…and why is it my beast's fault..?" he asked with an almost conversationally tone if not for the stings in its end.

"The Counselor hung himself last night. His last letter clearly stated that he was accused for a premeditated crime against your safety, and said that he took full responsibility for any misdeeds he'd ever done to you; if there was ANY..!!" Halberd said with the victorious tone as his face showed his satisfaction over the details.

He glanced at his step-cousin and back to the scroll; so he'd let it slip from his eyes, he didn't thought that his step-cousin's intimidation to his beast the other day was actually to bait him to confront the Counselor about the food. _No_, his mind commented, _it was about the poison..!_ He took a glance at his beast now crying openly as if believing it was really his mistake; the fact was, Halberd or his uncle Marquisse could be the ones who ordered to poison his food, but the Counselor couldn't really go against their authority or expose it, and to accuse a Royal would be staking someone's life with the whole family along, the lightest punishment would be cutting their tongues, but false accusation or something stated as one would be sentenced of deaths; for all he knew his step-cousin's men might have executed the Counselor and stated it as a suicide; since if the case got to questioning his safety in the Tower, some rebels might try to free him again, but if it was the case of his beast's mistake then people would only take the easiest way and blame his beast in the end rather than questioning their rulers' misdeeds.

He snorted, scrolled the paper shut again. Tied his hair on his nape with a hair band he used to tie around his wrist, got down from the bed to the sink and walked back with a wet cloth in his hand. He handed the scroll back to his step-cousin without looking at his face, then turned to the soldiers disabling his beast. "Release him, please..!" he said levelly. The soldiers looked stunned for a moment, then pulled back their spears and moved to their left side near the wall opposite their ex-prince, as if regarding him. Their behavior made Halberd frown in dislike; they didn't dare to look at him.

"…Master…." The beast whispered almost mouthing it, "…I didn't…!" his little voice was swallowed again by his tears, his wide shocked eyes stared him soulfully, pleading him.

He gave his Bland a silent "I know…" wiping the blood trailed on his face; there was a small trail of blood managed to get into his left eye and dissolved by his running tear, made it like he had different colors of tears from both eyes. He cleaned the left eyeball as well using the wet cloth, as the beast's eyeballs were actually made of a surface like a clear marble, but he couldn't clean the bleeding inside, somehow it made him upset even though he knew he couldn't do anything about that. When he pulled back his hand, Bland grabbed it as if knowing what he would do; but wasn't it obvious? For him there's no other way.

"What do you want to do with him, Halberd?" he casually asked while releasing his Bland's hand gently. The beast whimpered once, begging him not to proceed; he'd do anything as long as he could protect his Master.

"I haven't decided yet. For now I'll just confiscate the beast..!" he left 'for good' unspoken, but it stated in his eyes.

He stood up, "Ten lashings would suffice?"

His Bland instantly threw himself onto his right foot, prostrating until his forehead literally weighing it with his hands clutching the ankle; he whimpered his pleading out long and suffering.

Halberd only lifted his shoulders in an unconcerned gesture.

He didn't try to pull his foot knowing his Bland wouldn't let it go. Instead, he intended to call his Blood up, "Let go, Bland!" The trembling hands clutching his ankle fell to the floor acquiescently, and he didn't even summon his Blood yet; and all eyes that were present knew the fact as well, it made Halberd narrowed his eyes, it seemed that his Blood didn't weaken by years of poisoning.

He pulled his foot letting the beast's head fell to the floor with a thud muffled by the hood, and walked to the side of his bed where he received the lashings years ago.

"You don't need to kneel, Cousin Milliard..!" Halberd cut when he saw him bent forward to kneel down. "It wouldn't be appropriate to treat you like that, now would it..?"

The half sleepy eyes took a glance at him, knowing what his step-cousin's real intention was; with his height, giving a lashing to someone kneeling down would make it difficult for him to use all his strength. He looked back to the floor in front of his feet; what ever, he thought, suppressing a yawn, he was still very sleepy from fighting the poison effect that night; just let it done and get over with, his mind whispered.

His Bland gasped loudly as his step-cousin took out the riding-whip from a leather sheath hung from his waistband; he, too, could smell it in the room's air, it was the same poison that almost got him down for the whole night; he suspected it was more fatal than the poison he'd eaten yesterday. And to poison him through open wounds would make it more ruinous than poisoning him through his already adapted digestion. A thought flashed in his mind; could it be that the Counselor knew that his step-cousin would use such a way of tricking his beast so he could expose him to the poison in such a way..? That's why the man probably poisoned the food yesterday in his own accord and risked his own life just to give him the little chance to adjust to the poison?

Right; he could see it now, the links his people tried to bind themselves with to connect to him, more than just loyalty. It was as if they reached out to him with their souls, more than their physicals, more than their hearts, more than their existences. A warm wave welled up from inside his chest as he closed his eyes, a small smile tugged on his lips, the recognition about his people made his heart felt like it dissolved into the air, and dispersed filling the whole room, made contact with the others inside the room besides him. His mind registered the first lashing his step-cousin gave him, but he almost didn't feel it physically as his awareness flowed outside his body. He could feel the people's compassion that they would take the lashings themselves if that would help their only living-Hope even how little help that would be.

The one Counselor jerked his head to the side a little, as if he could feel his heart in the air, his chin trembled a little and he faced down hiding his relieved tears with his loose hood, boosting his own recognition to welcome his Sire's touch to his spirit.

The soldiers' spirits were defeated, but their loyalty still survived; they were like his Pride, waiting the Time to stand high and righteous again.

His Bland was on the verge of hysterical, he doubted that the Beast could recognize him in the air; he was overwhelmed with the empathic pains he felt for every lashing his body had to endure; for now he let him be. He tried to touch his step-cousin's air, but the rejection was too strong, it felt like the dark side of his Pride; maybe in a sense it was, the dark side of his step-cousin's Pride; he made a note not to turn to his own dark side again like the night he'd beaten his beastling mindlessly.

"…..—no…"

"…- - noo…!"

His Bland seemed to be overloaded and started to mumble his denial out, shaking his head jerkily to the sides; his heart went to his crouching figure, trying to calm him down, but the beast couldn't feel him even when he tried to touch their blood-link, it seemed that his abused-devotion had blinded his heart of hearts to even register his feelings of more than just the pain or humiliation. He had to get to him before he break, he thought; but as if reacting to that concern, his Bland suddenly broke out yelling at the top of his lungs.

"I DIDN'T DO SUCH A THING; STOP IIIIIITT..!!!"

The world fell into the room in a click as all eyes turned to the crying beast on the floor; his awareness was instantly pulled into his body again, he turned his head a little to his right side, glancing at his Bland by the end of his eye; the pain came shooting down his whole body even though his back felt somewhat numb except for some lines of fire crisscrossing its skin. His mind lurched down with his sinking heart; that would give his step-cousin the reason to detain his beast, and as if answering him his beast yelled again.

"I DIDN'T DO IT; I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING…STOP HURTING MY MASTER..!!" his red eyes looked crazed with streams of tears running freely; and he knew his Bland wouldn't stop now, he stifled a sigh and closed his eyes.

"IT'S WRONG, MASTER; I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING..!! TELL THEM THEY'RE MISTAKEN…!!"

He turned his face forward ignoring his beast's cries; the room was silent as if they could actually hear the temperature got colder.

There was no recognition from his Master what so ever; the chill eased his heated mind somewhat, gradually he realized that everyone in the room had their eyes on him except for his Master. His labored breaths were loud in the silent room, he could hear his own heart beating like crazy in his ears, numbing his hearing; but he still could realize it that his Master was shutting himself from him.

He sniffled wetly once, eyes searching his Master's figure from the back that somehow looked like a silhouette to his eyes. "…Master..?!"

No answer, no recognition. He couldn't feel their blood-link.

"……Master….?" His voice sounded so small, like a lost child. His ears could hear a snicker from somewhere in front of him, but his mind didn't want to register the person who let it out.

Then there was a loud cracking sound like thunder to his numb ears, he jerked fearfully and shrunk back, staring at his own hands scratching the wooden floor tightly leaving scrap marks on it. There were whispers repeatedly cursing him in his head;

.._you made a mistake_..

_You made another mistake..!_

_Stupid beast..!_

…_.ignorant spoilt beast…!_

He jerked again every time the crack sounded; he tried to hold his tongue by biting it…even his Instinct was cursing him, he sat hunched trembling violently feeling himself getting smaller and smaller while the bad world felt getting bigger and bigger.

The loud sounds had stopped but his Instinct told him that it's not over yet, still cursing his stupidity for not being able to hold his tongue to himself. Bland unconsciously let out a long whimper, sounding so sad and pitiful. He could feel the evil stare burnt on him; somehow his Instinct had him braced himself for the coming punishment.

"All ears in this room heard the accusation, right..?!" Halberd said with a wide smirk, there were glints in his grey eyes dancing playfully, like the eyes of a child having his favorite game played.

Bland's gasp choked in his constricted throat, his head was trembling jerkily restraining the wild sobs he was making.

"….Halberd…" his Master's voice was slurred as if he was almost falling asleep; "…just get done with it, I'm sleepy…!" he added with a half bored tone.

His step-cousin suddenly put his chin on his shoulder, inhaling the scent of his tied blond hair that was put to his front when he presented his back; his hands were encircled forward almost embracing him from behind, but he was minding to not touch the broken skin on his back; perhaps he didn't want to get the poison on himself, a little awareness whispered in his sleepy mind.

"…and how many lashings should the false accusation to ME be appropriate, Cousin..?" Halberd whispered gently. "Did you not teach your beast about his place and MINE..?!"

He chuckled sweetly, "…or about yours, Prince Milliard..?"

Snorted once, "He's my concern,--.." but a gloved hand instantly covered his mouth.

"Do you think I like doing this..?!!" his step-cousin's voice suddenly exploded with anger. "You teach your little hooded-beast about this big-bad-country properly or some bad-bad-humans will fuse him into the palace walls..!!" the riding whip was swiveled back in a wide swing to the beast's direction.

"Don't.." he turned to whisper again, steeling his tone; "…enjoy it when I lowered my hand just to touch you in you lowly place..!! I never liked the high-view, Milliard, not like you..!" he added the last part silently.

"Do you understand what I'm saying, beast..?!" he pressed the beast's head with his foot so that his forehead hit the floor; the beast's body trembled but it seemed that he had his tongue bitten to not make a sound. And he was waiting his answer, so he stepped on harder banging the beast's forehead once more to the floor, "Do you..?!!" he repeated.

The clutched hands jerked once, there was a choked whimper coming from him. "….yess.." and a small answer in a very small voice.

"Yes--…?!"

A choked gulp; "…yes, ….Young Lord…!"

Halberd snickered, pulling his foot after giving it a shove to the head under his sole; "Good, I'll just give you one warning this time. I'm not too much of a bad tyrant, aren't I..?!"

He turned in a swift and gave all his strength in one wide swing slashing diagonally down his blond ex-prince-cousin's back. The beast actually heard the blood splattered sharply on the floor and it made him reflexively let out a painful surprised moan. Halberd had some drips on his other boot and he casually wiped it to the beast's robe like a floor-mat; he didn't spare a glance to his blond step-cousin looking like he was almost fainted on his feet, he didn't want to see that Pride again backfired to him like years ago.

Sheathing the whip back, he turned and gestured to the others to exit the room. By the doors he paused, "…since it wouldn't be good for your safety, and anyone's credibility, should they have any misleading prejudice about their misdeeds towards you, Cousin Milliard…from now on you are free to manage your own food from here…!" he paused as if he wanted to add something, but his lonesome air betrayed his despotic tone, he didn't say what ever was on his mind after that.

"You still have a title waiting with that white robe, Milliard. It's better than nothing…." His voice was halfway muffled by the closing door.

Bland was instantly at his Master's front, catching his falling body while his own body was still trembling uncontrollably. "…it's okay…." His Master's voice was breathless; but it was him instead who got to be calmed down with his Master's larger hand stroking the back of his head since the hood fell to his shoulders in his haste.

"…..you are free to go, Bland…" his Master said the same words like that night; he still didn't want to think of what it meant, so he hid his tearstained face on his Master's hunched shoulder pulling his body to rely on his shorter one. He felt his Master's hand slipped from his head and dangled limply by his side, his beast's hearing still could register the voiceless word coming from his lips, calling his name once; then his Master's body weight leaned completely to him as he lost consciousness.

The silent snow fell rapidly outside; he didn't howl out his despair this time, only wanting to melt away like snow on his Master's palm. He wanted to disappear completely.

As said, there was no one bringing food to that room that day; perhaps poisoning his Master wasn't enough, they intended to make him die of hunger as well, his beast-mind managed to form in his shocked despairing state. His Instinct told him to get help, seeing that his Master's back already blistered with sickly blue-blackish color. The smell of the poison stung his nose with his every breath, the room felt freezing even for his beast skin. In his shock he couldn't arrange his body temperature to warm up his master's body with his; he could only cry silently, not knowing what to do after licking the blood from his Master's wounds and cleansed them with a wet cloth. People outside were suffering like that too, his mind pointed; freezing, hungry, pained and ill and didn't have anything to mend themselves with, they too could only cry for their loved ones suffering, not knowing whom to turn to for help. He'd known it for a long time…for a very long time since he could read the air and the winds; he just didn't know what to do; …then…., now, too…

His Master's ragged breaths turned shallow by the dusk time, the even more freezing temperature worsen his deteriorating body, and he hadn't gained consciousness since morning. His weak uneven heartbeat told the beast that his Master was dying; his Instinct too told him that his Master was dying…

Covering his Master with the blanket he made up his mind; stood up and went out after giving his Master's head a lingering stroke. His tears were already dry since hours earlier.

The Palace court was lighted with ground-torches on some strategic places; the arc-roads were lighted with hanging lamps along the length, the walls were lined up with lamps and other sources of light, even the fire-crystals from foreign countries; but still, even with the lavishness of it all the Palace seemed grey for him. He never entered the Palace's living quarters before, he never wanted to be acquainted with its denizens, but now he had no other option.

The snow had started to fall again, lighter, just enough to mark it that it was an evening in the winter. He stood still on the center of the courtyard of the innermost gate to the Palace, staring at the snowy ground, not minding the guards stared him with alert in their wide eyes. The fallen snow gave specks of white on his black velvet robe. He waited…

About more than an hour later Halberd came back on his horse with a flock of his fawning royal patrons' sons behind him, he saw the beast stood on the center of the wide court but didn't give a care; proceeding into the Palace to have a party with his useless flock. While the other drank till their brains turned to mud, he watched the small figure in black robe on the courtyard from the window, sipping his warm beverage trying to inhale fresh air from the outside rather than the sharp smell of the liquors the useless flock was having behind him. Every now and then some drunk youngster would come to his seat and encouraged him to join their stupid party, he declined evasively; when that didn't work, he glared at them. He hated those people, but they kept fawning at him; and if he didn't let them in his company then he'd be alone. A bright room full of plastered fools sometime was better than a cold dim room where he's all alone; he stared the lone black velvet robe in the center of the courtyard coldly, a thought flashed in his mind.

He could kick all the stupid drunkards out and had the beast in; he was still very young but surely his prideful cousin had taught him something, right? He chuckled to himself at the thought, sipping his cooler beverage.

"Hey, Young Lord, where did you get pretty maid-girls like them..?!" a slurred yell heard from the tables followed by squeals coming from the scared maid-girls who got caught by some of the leering youngsters when they served the drinks.

Halberd snorted derisively, banging the mug in his hand hard to the window ledge. "Shut up; go home..!!" he stood up and walked in wide strides to the doors.

"Whaat..?? Come on have your drinks, or are you have someone more important than us…?!" a blond teenager ran after him, his hair color was an annoying reminder of his prideful cousin in the Tower; but only the hair color and not his cheeky attitude.

He ignored them and got down to the courtyard, stopped by the stone terrace; the cold winter air made him shivered but he didn't want to let others know about it, so he waited for sometime until his body adapted to the cold. The beast in black robe stood still like a scarecrow, snow was already piled on his head and around his feet hidden by the pooling long robe. He walked to the beast slowly, not really wanting to make a scene in case his father would get disturbed.

"Whooa…!! Halberd had a new toy and not sharing with us..!!" the blond teenager turned out following him, he was chuckling drunkenly. "Hey, Halberd, let me join..--"

Halberd slapped the liquor mug in his hand, it flung to a few meters rolling on the snowy stone ground. "Didn't I tell you to shut up!! Get inside or I'll kick you out..!!" he snarled. The blond teen shrunk and wobbly hurried inside, peeking from behind the door panel and ran inside when he realized that Halberd was still glaring at him.

He approached the beast until about a couple meters away from him; "…what?!" he asked flatly sounding annoyed. The beast jerked as if waking with surprise from a trance, realizing it was him standing before him, he instantly threw himself to prostrate until his forehead hit the ground.

"….Young Lord…!" he greeted with a small trembling voice.

"What?!" he repeated with a steel voice, crossing his arms to keep his chest warm.

"Master is…--"

At the mention of him still with that title Halberd quickly turned his body without so much a word and headed back to the doors.

"…I'll do anything..!!" the beast immediately yelled on his knees, perhaps he himself didn't really mean it what would come along with those words. Halberd stopped and looked behind his shoulder, the beast seemed to realize what he'd said and fearfully hunched down until his hood hid his downcast face.

"Anything? Like what..?!" Halberd turned back to him and stepped closer a little.

The beast realized he'd just consented to walk into a trap by himself, but wasn't it what he'd made his mind for..?

"For what..?" Halberd asked in an almost encouraging tone.

"My…Master…is ill….!" The beast said steeling himself. "Please…some medicine..!"

"And you'll do anything for me in return? Like what..?!" he was smirking, still testing.

The beast hands were trembling, "…anything…?" The small answer sounded hesitated, it's like asking back what would be included in his 'anything', that made Halberd frowned in dislike. The beast was always ignorantly asking for him to treat him even more cruelly, he thought.

"What if….'anything' includes things like this..?!" he squatted and reached out to pull the beast's quivering chin up, letting his memory open so the beast could feel it under his skin; he was not inexperienced with sex, with both female and male partners; as the only son of a tyrant there were many who would fawn at his feet using their bodies; and even as shameless and disgraceful he thought about it and hating it….but he was lonely.

The beast jerked by sudden self-consciousness, trying to snap his head to get away from his hand; but Halberd didn't let him, he clutched the tiny chin tighter, feeling a wave of excitement welling inside him making his head felt lighter; it even better than any liquor would do. He chuckled deep, every small squirm the beast made only rubbed his sadistic side even more; how he'd like to beat the hell out of that beast in front of his blond cousin; wouldn't they make a perfect drama-couple together..? Making a perfect guilty scene, crying and pleading for each other's sake….!!

"…Young Lord….anything that pleases you…." The beast said in a pleading tone, closing his eyes fearfully.

Halberd realized that his sudden thought might have also flowed to the beast; he looked at the beast's face closely, he was good looking, he admitted; not like many beastly-looking beasts he usually encountered. "Is that why you meant a lot to him…?!" the low voice sounded angry; for some reason he got irrationally angry and pulled the beast's head up to his own face level, tightening his grip even more, meant it to hurt.

"..ah..!" the beast let out a pained sound reflexively and immediately hold himself back from making other sound, instinctively knew it that it would make the human more vicious. The hatred and jealousy he felt flowing from the human's hand was suffocating him; like a liquid fire filling his veins.

"..'anything' includes those things..?!" he asked with a wild smirk.

"..yes…!" the beast sobbed out his answer.

"…….and more..?!"

The beast sniffled once, his throat seemed to constrict; "…m…more…!" the closed eyes started to get wet. He tossed the beast's chin to the side uncaringly; the beast managed to brace his body before hitting the ground, slowly he dared himself to look at the human looking down disgustingly at him, he let out a surprise yelp when the human suddenly slapped his face hard making him fell to the ground.

Halberd stood and spat on the beast's head; "Whore..!!" he said flatly, "As if I would take someone's used toy! …moreover a lowly beast..!!" he smirked at the end.

'…for Master's sake…'

_His Master is not like that..! _The Instinct screamed its denial about the accusation.

'for Master's sake..!'

_Master is not such a human..!!_

"…for Master….." he mumbled to calm his Instinct to endure this for the moment.

_Master is a nurturer not a devourer..!!_

The Instinct told him to just kill the human degrading his Master and everyone else on his side; his mind went blank, he stared vacantly as the human walked away from where he was half lying on the ground; the scenery seemed almost like an absurd dimension where everything twisted into disproportional unrecognizable things to his eyes.

_MASTER IS NOT YOU…!!_

…and his world muted; Instinct moved his arms and he felt his body straightened from the ground, everything was a blur….and there was the realization that his Master was dying, waiting alone in the freezing Tower for him to bring the medicine. A very small voice echoed from inside his head, he wasn't sure whose voice that was, but it sounded like the sound of a drip of water in his muted world; it said only one word:

…_.help…_

Maybe it was the sound of his heart calling out for his Master's hand…

Halberd stopped his walk as he felt the little tremors traveled on the stone ground, at the same time he heard a loud bang followed with a sickly splat. He paused for a couple of seconds before looking behind slowly; everyday he'd seen poverty made people do things he'd find degrading, he'd used to seeing children begged the patrons for anything to safe their family members; crying, pleading, holding the rich's shoes even though they're getting beaten; he'd used to steeling his heart, if not his conscience would die a little everyday, and what would be left for himself if that happens? Who would love him a little earnestly if not for himself? No one loved a tyrant's son sincerely, right…?

The beast's labored breath heard loud in the silent night, he was trying to pull himself together, his hands clawed jerkily at the snow. The dancing lights made the red blood seemed enticing with its glow; the red-colored snow looked sweet.

"…Young….Lord..! This lowly beast begs for your kindness..!" the beast propped his upper body up, his elbows was buckling a couple times but he managed to lift his bloody face to the human.

"Please…please give my Master some medicine..! I'll do anything you bid me in return…!" the blood trailed from his forehead and dripped from his chin to the snow.

"Please..!!" the beast cried once and banged his forehead again to the stone ground. Halberd could feel the ground shuddered again by the impact.

"Just a little mercy, Young Lord..!" he said again banging his head harder.

"…just a little kindness..!", and again.

"This beast promises you not to bother you again..!", and again.

"…please..!!", and again. Banging the door where he kept his conscience hidden from the world created by his ruthless father; Halberd watched the beast pleaded him like that until he couldn't lift his head again…and he'd used to see blood as well, his eyes stared without so much warmth in them.

The beast tried to push his arms to support his upper body up again, but the strength was gone, both physical and spirit; it was his last plunge to the trap left closed by the human who decided that he didn't worthy enough to be caught, but didn't the human want to see him bathed in blood entreating him with all his might? Crying, and begging, and bleeding…this was still not enough drama for him…?

A gritted moan, one trembling hand had enough strength to push his body upward. "…young….lord…." he managed to say; but the hand slipped by his own blood that made the stone ground slippery, he didn't bang his head for the last time, he fell and laid there face down clawing at the redden snow; regretting his ignorance that he couldn't do anything by himself…nothing right….

Halberd was still staring the beast apathetically; he didn't remember how long he'd been standing there in his indoor garb, he was cold but didn't really mind it. A little awareness made him looked up to the high window partly hidden from his lower view by the banners hung under it, there was a man's silhouette staring down on him for a few long seconds, then it gone into the bright lit chamber. He blinked as the snow fell to his eyes, shook his head to make the molten snow slid down from his face. He stared the miserable heap in front of him again.

"….this is all I have..!" he tossed the little folded package he took from his waistband, "For winter-fever. Drink it when he's sober enough…" he mumbled while walking back to the doors, didn't spare another glance to the beast before he disappeared into the warm Palace.

The beast cocked his head a little to stare at the folded cloth, he took in a couple relieved ragged breaths. "…thank you….." he whispered; then, forcing his body to move, he wormed to grasp the little thing. It felt warm in his freezing hand; he smiled. With that at least his Master would have a little succor…if his Master could gain consciousness for a moment….even just a little bit…, his mind kept repeating the hope.

….it's better than nothing…

…….right…?

---------------

There used to be a moat around the Palace's cliff, its width was the length of the arc-roads serving as the bridges above it; but now the moat was left dry, only remained a deep fosse with large sharp rocks protruding at its base. Bland wormed his way up along the base of the steep cliff, using his small size to slip between what rocks large enough to obstruct his way. He'd somewhat cleansed the blood from his face with the snow, covering the broken skin on his forehead with the hood, instinctively feeling exposed when he thought of others see the wounds caused by the smashed stones.

He got to the cliff base under the Tower at the back of the palace, looking up at the very long vertical way up to the landing of his Master's room. His knees buckled, he slid down to sit desperately trying to gain his strength to summon his wind to carry him up there. But the waiting felt long; he sobbed his frustration out, wiping his unbidden tears using the robe's sleeve.

"…child..!" a soft voice caught him off guard. He jerked pushing his body up using the cliff wall as his support.

From the shadow of a large stone reclining to the cliff came out a middle aged woman, she looked like she had been waiting long in the cold weather; there was a relief look in her eyes.

"Can you read my air..?" she asked gently as she recognized the fearful glare the beast directed at her.

Bland's expression seemed alertly surprised, the woman let him read her air openly….she was the dead Counselor's wife; or should he said widow.

"….unggh.." he didn't know what to do at such a situation; even though he felt it that she didn't hold him responsible for his husband's death, but he still felt like he was the cause of it.

"It's alright. Can I get closer..?" the woman gave him a gentle smile, her serene bearings calmed him down somewhat; he half consciously nodded once.

Even though she asked so but she stopped at a respective distant from the alerted beast, she knew she didn't want to frighten him too much, he's already had so much that day. "My husband left this in my keep, he meant to pass it to you..!" she opened the folded cloth used as a cover to a package she'd been holding tightly in her hands. There was a small bottle in a plaited-root holder, only the size of two adult's fingers; and a small wooden tube the size of a thumb that usually used to keep powder.

Bland blinked at the presented objects in the woman's palm. He looked inquiringly at her with his wide eyes; the look on his face called forth the woman's motherly instinct, she smiled encouragingly.

"The bottle's contain is for open wounds, the powder is to be eaten. Sadly there's no anti-venom for the poison, it was from some foreign country far away from here, but my husband had tried to find some medicine that had contradictory effect that could lessen the poison's attacks….I hope this is enough to mend the King..?" she said slowly, intentionally pressed the last part where she called his Master 'King'; she believed the beast knew what she was talking about.

Bland looked bewildered for a moment, he shook his head hesitantly; the woman knew what was in his mind without needing the ability to read minds, she smiled again.

"My husband knew that someday it would come to this, he was glad that you confronted him about his deeds, although he'd said that he hoped you'd do it sooner; he apologized that he couldn't stand up for the King…"

The woman approached and handed the medicines gently in his hand, he still looked up at her with fear; she reached out to his face, wiping the leftover of the blood smeared on his skin with the end of her damped shawl she covered her shoulder with. He flinched but accepted the kind touch, and he didn't realize it when his tears started to well up from his eyes again until she wiped them as well.

"Now, now…It's alright. Be brave, child…the King only has you..!" she embraced hid head to her chest, he only sobbed louder. "It's alright. You're alright..!" she soothed him repeatedly while the beast cried more and more painfully in her hands; she knew he never had anyone else's affection besides his Master's.

"You are his blessing. Thank heavens he has you by his side, child..!" she whispered; "Don't belief otherwise..! ..Alright?"

"You're not a curse! Don't belief it when someone said it to you..! Not once that you were his curse! Not once that he thought you are his curse..!!"

"Don't lower his love for you..! You understand..?"

Bland nodded whimpering in her tight embrace. She wiped his tears again, "You're a good child…" she smiled; "Now go safe our King…!"

The woman released him and pushed him gently to go, Bland looked at her while wiping his tears, he walked a couple steps away, and acting on impulse he turned and gave her a bow. "….Madam…!" he greeted; then, finding his strength renewed he called out his wind and blasted upward to his Master's room.

The woman looked stunned for a moment, later she chuckled contentedly; "It's been a very long time since someone called me madam, usually they called me 'old lady'..!" And she stood there smiling, there was a solemn air shrouding her; she wished her only child had survived; that way, she wouldn't be alone right now….

---------------

The room was dark and freezing, in his shock-stricken disorientation he'd forgotten to sun the light-crystal that day, thus the crystal stood cold like a cluster of ice in the niche at the corner of the room since it didn't absorb light. Bland's eyes could see in the dark, but the sight of his Master lying still on his front unmoving in that dark room startled him somewhat; he gasped and ran to his side, immediately reaching out to their blood-link once his hand gripped his Master's limp hand; he hadn't gained consciousness the whole time he'd gone out. Bland bit his lips, he had some medicines, but didn't know where to start; he never had experience with things like that. His little mind whispered the anxiety that the medicine could cause negative contradiction instead of mending his Master, the smell of the poison still stinging his nose in the air; this was just getting back to zero, he had some medicine but he couldn't decide anything else to do beside licking the wounds like any beast would. That fact frustrated him.

Fell sitting on the floor, Bland hit the mattress a couple times, burrowing his face in the thin beddings, only cursing his ignorance over and over. The Instinct apparently decided that it wasn't the time to brood over useless thought; Bland jerked with the realization that despite the poison's smell had disturbed him greatly, but he didn't get any physical depletion after he licked the blood from his Master's poisoned back. Could it be that in fact his beast-blood had enough immunity to such poison..?

_How could you not notice it from the start..?!_ The voice of Instinct retorted, it made him flushed to crimson with wide eyes; how much ignorant could one be..?

With that realization, he sprang to his feet and took the blanket from his Master's back. The blackish webs from the poison's infection covered almost his whole back, but he didn't have the time to be distracted now that he knew what he had to do. After cleansing the wounds once again with the wet cloth from the sweat and pus and sipping blood, Bland took the bottle's cork off and smelled the thick liquid inside; after tasting it with his tongue and examined what effect it caused, he rolled his left sleeve and made a pair of cross-cuts on his wrist with his sharp fingernail. His blood instantly welled up from the cuts and he applied the liquid to mix them while the blood dripped heavily to his Master's back.

There was a silent hissing sound when the mixed blood touched the poisoned wounds, his Master reflexively made some moaning grunts even though he was unconscious; Bland snapped his head at him, "Master….is it painful…?" he asked silently, but feeling a little relief that his Master could still respond in any kind. "I'll nurture you to health back, Master…!" he promised, "….don't leave me or tell me to leave…?" his other hand wiped a rebellious tear from his eye.

His blood had liquefied the thick medicine that it could cover his Master's back with only half of the small bottle's content, he decided that he would rather see if it would make some positive progress before he use all of it. Embracing his Master's head while he kneeled by his bed, he thought about the fever medicine that Halberd gave him; indeed, his Master was having a very high fever, but he was still unconscious. "…when Master is sober enough…!" he repeated Halberd's words half consciously, sniffled his runny nose a couple times.

The wait was extremely long, though his little mind pointed that it was still not even reach mid night yet; but he really wished that the medicine effect would be instantaneous; he wanted his Master to immediately stop suffering, because he knew that he had to tend to his other sickness after that covered.

'…_patience, Bland. Flowers don't grow in one day…!_' somehow his mind replayed the memory when he waited the flower seed he'd brought back from his outing to grow, he'd wanted to give the flower plant for his Master; his Master was more amused with his antics rather than with the present he meant for him.

"…yes, Master.." Bland whispered his answer half consciously. His Master was strong, more than any human he'd saw in that country, his little mind pointed. So he'd just have to wait for now.

He didn't realize it that he'd fallen asleep for the rest of the night, the soft rays casted from the small vertical windows woke him that morning, feeling a little warmed by the sunlight as his exhaustion eased from his body and mind. He jerked to full alert as he realized that it was already morning, but instantly melted with relief as he saw his Master looked asleep rather than half-breath away to death. He let out a long sigh, smiling. "….Master….!" he stroked his blond head and kissed his temple once, feeling the temperature. Now he had to work with the poison in his Master's system.

Oh, wait; food…! His mind pointed that humans ate their meals several times daily; his Master hadn't eaten anything the whole day and night so he better got him to eat soon. He searched the room; of course there's no food in there, his mind complained. Bland scratched his face, perhaps he could find some outside but he didn't want to leave his Master. Moreover, he still hadn't given the powder medicine yet as he was still unconscious.

He blinked. Looking at the cross-cuts still open at his own wrist; he could feed his Master his blood, with the medicine along, his mind pointed. But wouldn't that returning his Master's blood…? The return-blood meant breaking their blood-link, right…?! Because that meant he'd stand at the same level as the benefactor in their bond; but if he didn't feel that way then it wouldn't matter, right…? Because he'd still think of his Master as his master no matter what happen, right…?!

The contradictory thoughts froze him. He didn't want to severe the blood-link with his Master, but the top priority would be his Master's well being. In the end, he chose his Master's safety first; if there's anything he did that broke their blood-link then he thought he'd just serve him as his servant for life. Yes, with that made up, he applied the powder on his cuts and bit hardly, mixing the blood and the medicine in his mouth, he tilted his Master's head to pass it mouth to mouth.

His Master's brows twitched a little in disturbed frown, but complied when he pleaded him in his heart to swallow the transferred blood. When he released his Master's lips, he licked the driblets from his slack mouth and repeated the actions a couple more times until he finished transferring the poured powder mixed in his bloody cuts. After finding that his Master wasn't as deathly pale as yesterday, he decided to check the wounds on his back again; the blackish webs had turned paler almost like the natural color of arteries or veins, the broken skin had dried and the welts had almost gone. But he frowned, the progress didn't satisfy him much since he used to having his own injuries almost instantly healed once his immunity reacted. He licked to taste the leftover poison that might still be on his Master's wounds, finding it got tamer by the medicine he repeated to apply the rest of the liquid medicine using his blood as the solvent, this time licking them onto the wounds; since he wanted to safe some of the medicine in case his Master would need it later.

_Someone's watching from the door..!_ The Instinct jerked him to alert; he'd left a ward at the inner side of the door before leaving his Master alone yesterday evening, even though he knew he still needed a lot of practice with such skill. Reflexively covered his Master's back with the blanket, he saw that it was Halberd watching them from the door that was opened a slit; then he realized that perhaps he wanted to collect the repayment he had promised to the human. But now at the time when he was trying to treat his Master…?

Bland instantly kneeled at the end of his Master's bed facing the door, clutching the bedpost's leg as if it was the substitute for his Master's leg while he put his forehead on the floor, trembling visibly.

Halberd felt the invisible ward erected at the inner side of the wooden door, but knew it that with the promise the beast made yesterday he could order him to let him in.

"Let me in..!" he ordered flatly. There was an involuntary mewling sound heard from the prostrating beast, but he complied; sensing that the ward welcomed him, Halberd stepped inside, tracing the ward with his spirit when he passed through it. The beast's ward was still experimental but already effective enough to keep unwanted people outside, with proper training he thought the beast could be even stronger as he suspected that his blond cousin had never taught him such skill. He stared the said cousin lying unconscious on his bed, he could smell the scent of other potions in the closed air of the room; he supposed that the beast might have found someone else who'd given him something.

Bland felt the human's suspicion and gripped the small bottle and tube in the cover of his long sleeve tighter, grateful that he was holding them when the human came and he could hide them instantly.

Halberd grunted once and headed back to the door, leaving the beast froze in his confusion to why he came there.

Could it be that he wanted to check on his Master..? He thought to himself, staring at the closed door; but went back to continue his activity of licking his Master's back to apply the blood mixed with the medicine. It left only several spots to take care; when he got to finish the last one suddenly he choked by himself and managed to swallow the leftover blood in his mouth, coughing with inflamed face.

'NO!...No nnononononononoo…!!' he ran outside and rammed his head into a pile of snow at the corner of the landing. The memory Halberd let him saw resurfaced with the realization of the human's presence in the room just now; that was….what he'd done to pass the medicine-mix into his Master's mouth could be considered kissing….right? And the rest of the actions usually followed such a kiss replayed in his memory even though it wasn't his.

'Nooo…!! Get out of my head!! Get ouuutt..!!' Bland hit the snow with his balled hands repeatedly, his beast's disposition rejected to think of his Master in such way but the feelings read in those scenes crawled under his skin; the thoughts, the remorse, the hatred of having to engage in such acts, the needs and the ulterior motives known hidden in those smiles and the fake comforts…."…stoop..!!" he got to the layers where he could sense Halberd's thoughts of his Master when he did _it_ with those other humans. Gritted his teeth, Bland arched his back and banged his head to the stone landing in his desperate try to stop the flowing memory. As his vision fading in and out by the impact, he could hear his labor breaths again and not the voices from the memory, his heart pounding rapidly in panic, and his chest constricted. He balled his body clutching his pained chest, sobbed silently feeling the chill winds caressing him somewhat; the human might only wanted to toy with him when he let his memory flowed into him, but he had underestimated his ability to read such intangible things, he'd let the beast to peek into his heart of heart unconsciously. He whimpered there until he could control his heartache again; _it wasn't his_, his little mind repeated over and over, _he didn't have to feel it, just ignore…!_

Staggering a little, he went back to his Master's side, swaying a little as he stood staring his immobile figure; the pale skin, the long blond hair soft as the morning rays, the prideful mien with his calm conscientious air, the strength exuding from his aura…how could someone not envy him? How could someone not want him? Bland fell sitting on the floor as he felt his feet turned boneless suddenly, his eyes stared his Master unwaveringly; he'd never seen his Master from an outsider's view before. Swallowed his dry throat once, he shook his head hardly clearing his thoughts; his little mind whispered the warning that his seeing from such a view meant that their blood-link was damaged.

_No, it's just a sudden realization, that's all..!!_ His heart denied stubbornly, but his mind couldn't forget what it had just before; to see his Master from an outsider's eyes felt fulfilling…of something left hollow in his chest that couldn't be satisfied with only his possessiveness as a beast over his Master; it made him want to have him just for himself. That kind of thought was supposed to make him reproves his own impudence, but somehow it made him felt high instead. He frowned at the fact that he didn't feel it wrong; but he kept telling himself that there was nothing wrong with their blood-link.

_Yesss…before someone like the Young Lord got their hands on his Master, it better if he had him all to himself---NOO..!!_ Bland sprang to his feet, gritted his teeth so hard that his gum started to bleed; he walked stiffly to the landing again, threw himself down on a pile of snow and distractedly clawing at the snow he brought it to his hot forehead. '_If he didn't feel that way, then it wouldn't matter'..?!_ His mind rebuked himself, repeating his own thought before he decided that it's alright to feed his Master his beast-blood. Now, it's too late to think it twice, his little mind said; he should continue or leave just as his Master said yesterday. His heart said that he didn't want to leave, then it left him to just continue until his task finished; after that if his Master decided that he wasn't worthy to be kept, he'll leave.

The thought of leaving his Master didn't feel hurting anymore, as there were starting to grow in the back of his mind some hazy pictures and blurry ideas of what he would do once he got on his own; the fact that he didn't feel hurt and abandoned shocked him. Only some minutes before his Master was his Life, now it felt like he wanted to own him. He hit the balled snow onto his forehead hard; _Master owns, beast owned..!!_ He reiterated those words over and over with that action until his head felt numb by the cold snow.

It would be better if he could cling to his Master now when he's losing himself like that…

The birds of prey cawed as they circled the wide sky above the Tower; it already gotten to dusk again, his mind pointed. The beast only stared apathetically at the grim lighted sky, suddenly it felt that the sky wasn't as vast as before; it made him feel like fleeing. The Instinct didn't voice anything since after Halberd visited the room, and he didn't even wonder why. The light-crystal started to emit little sparkles as the thing sensed the approaching darkness of the night; Bland glanced at the cluster of crystal he'd put in the middle of the landing that day, the small glitters of light hypnotized his inebriated mind; he stared at it until the short-lived twilight's light died and made the crystal shone like a lamp.

After putting the crystal in the niche, he went to check his Master's back, finding the wounds only left redden crisscrossing marks on his skin; the improvement didn't wake his feelings, though, he only proceeded to feed the medicine-mixed blood to his Master's mouth like he did that morning, feeling empty as if he were already abandoned. A warm tear traveled down his indifferent face and dripped from his chin to his balled hand near his Master's forehead, he stared at it listlessly; it didn't feel like his own.

By mid night, when he fed his Master his blood since there was nothing else he could give him, he wept painfully; despite the fact that his Master was getting far better, he felt dead on the inside, missing his Master to reach out to him. He was missing his Life dearly…

"…my Master…..!" he muttered, "….my dear Master……" stroking the blond head he put on his laps like a fragile thing; but his Master didn't wake up to hold him. Despite his early-adolescent appearance, he was still only a 6-years old child, and the world didn't treat him as one. He cried until his eyes couldn't let out tears anymore; it was the same as the night when he cried his eyes to dry over his abused Master. Aside from his Master that was getting better, in the inside he was the one feeling worse than that first night, more lost and more alone.

The dawn came silently lighting his back from the tall windows, making his shadow fell on his Master's head. It felt odd, for the beast, that somehow his shadow could touch his Master in a way that he couldn't. He stroked the blond head once, slowly; feeling every little sensation on his fingers and palm; a realization occurred in his little mind, that somewhere in the shade of his frame his shadow's hand was also touching his Master's head hidden from his eyes, unrevealed by the light. Somehow it made him angry; if he could just rip that shadow off from his Master's figure….

He gripped at the shadow lying on his Master's head, he didn't feel the shadow's presence in his balled hand, there were several long blond locks caught in it; he stared at the crushed locks and jerkily tossed them, pulling his hand behind his back. He didn't think that it hurt his Master for he was still looking soundly asleep without a care to the world, to him. The beast cocked his head to the side slowly, still staring at his own shadow; it'd be convenient if he could peel it off from his Master, he thought to himself. He lifted his hand almost to the level of his own head; there were the soft clink sounds in unison as he clawed his nails out.

The beast stared fixedly, his mind kept playing the vision what he wanted to do with his own shadow; he didn't care about the part of shadow that didn't touch his Master, he only wanted to peel off the part of the shadow that touched his Master without his permission. _Where should he start first..?_ His mind repeated; _from the top of his Master's head…to the shoulders…a neat curved line along his slender figure….No, with his nails he could make five lines in one go_, his mind pointed.

…_that's right……from the top of his head_… The beast slowly moved his open claw to his Master's head; …_then Master is no one's but yours only..!_ His mind whispered sweetly; he smiled at that, proceeding to move his hand to peel off his shadow….

Some locks were cut by his fore finger's nail and middle finger's, Bland instantly froze and stared wide eyed at the sight of his Master's severed locks lying there as just 'thing' and not part of his Master anymore. It might be not much of a thing for humans, but for beasts it was as good as hurting them. Feeling that all logics hit his head in a sudden dive, Bland pulled his hands and hid it behind his back; he realized what he was intending to do logically, and the realization felt like a stab of knife in his chest. He trembled with labored breaths, gripping his clawed hand with his other hand as if capturing it.

"…wha……what's wrong with me…?!" he whispered sounded afraid of himself; and he should be afraid, too…didn't he just think of mutilating his Master..?

He used his wind to ease his Master's head from his laps to the pillow and hurriedly ran to the sink; after splashing the freezing water onto his face several times he stood with his face down staring nothing at the wet sink, his hands clawed at the stone wall of the sink feeling bereft of something that his mind missed dearly…something wet and warm, and thick with life in its deep red color. Bland retched once, he wasn't that hungry to make him saw his Master as mere food; but his throat was dry and there was nothing in his stomach to be puked out, instead it made him coughed heavily, falling to his knees and hanging onto the stone sink like it were his nurturer's arms. His heart missed him dearly, the tender-storm that was his nurturer.

…_..Muu_…. he called out in his heart, but his Master still lying on the bed unmoving.

After about half an hour staring at his Master from the sink floor, Bland decided that it was morning meal's time, so he dragged his wretched body to the bed and without even checking his Master's condition he bit his healed wrist and tilted his own head to pass the blood in his mouth without daring to touch his Master with his hands. His Master's lips were a little slack, as he was lying on his side Bland managed to pass his blood a little, but those lips suddenly thinned.

"…Bland.…" the voiceless word was mouthed against the beast's mouth, it made him choked and forced to swallow the leftover blood. He instantly jerked and backed away from his Master's face.

"….stop feeding me your blood.." his Master tried a slurred whisper; there was a trail of blood sipped onto the white pillow trailing from the end of his lips. Bland stared at the red liquid marring the white pillowcase, his head felt light and he remembered that he only wanted to make that trail of liquid not red anymore, since it was the color of his sin. He ran to the shelf, took out a carved wooden mug he once made out of boredom and a disproportioned wooden spoon; filled the mug with the freezing water from the tap at the sink wall, and instinctively called his wind to blend the water. His Master's lighter ice-blue eye opened a slit and watched the invisible wall of the wind lifted the water in a swirling globe, and after several seconds, somehow the globe broke and the water in it spilled into the mug nicely steaming. He frowned, he'd never seen his Bland did that before; he suspected it was his beast doing when sometimes he found the heated water in the canteen in the food basket when it was too cold in the winter, but he didn't think of how he did it; he thought maybe Bland set a fire somewhere outside the Tower area.

"…water, Master…?" the beast spooned the hot water, cooling it off by blowing it a couple times he brought it to his Master's dry lips.

He complied, sipping the spooned water slowly, he didn't feel it before but he was thirsty as hell; all the while staring at his Bland's face. The beast didn't dare looking at his eyes, his hands trembled a little by nervousness and sudden euphoria; but mostly he felt that the beast wanted to flee from his side. Why..? He thought his Bland would cling to him like a bigger-leech now…..

He was deep in his thought that he didn't realize that he'd sipped almost ¾ of the mug's content; he tried to take a brush at their blood-link and was gravely surprise when he didn't feel it. He choked on the little amount of warm water and tried to cough it out. Bland instantly wiped the spilled sum from his face with his robe sleeve. "….I'll get you food right away, Master..!" he said hurriedly and literally ran out of the room.

He was still trying to tame his rebelling throat, "…Wai…t..!!" he called out a hoarse cry, but his Bland was already out of sight in a mere second. He coughed deeper once, "…Bland..!!" and managed his almost normal voice out, pushing his numb hands to prop his body up, but realized that he barely had strength even to only make a dent on the shallow bedding.

He'd made a mistake…he didn't know why but he did it…! He stared with shock outside, searching his Bland's link with his heart; clawing at the bed sheet cursing his stupidity over and over.

---------------

The sky was covered with layers of grey clouds; Bland stood in the middle of one of the main roads in the grim city. The people walked by uncaringly, some were limping or dragging their feet and limbs on the dirty stone ground; no one spared a glance at him, they were already full of their own problems. The used to be lively market road was now more like a mass poverty show; Bland listened to what the wind carried to him and he didn't really eager to serve his Master what he could find there; plus, he didn't have the trade-cash those humans were using to make the deals.

A haggard looking dirty boy suddenly collapsed on his feet gripping them even though they were hidden underneath his black velvet robe, he moaned and pleaded the beast for some mercy; must be because the expensive-looking garment that despite its old-aged appearance it still looked rich in such a poor neighborhood. Bland stared down at the boy, his senses could trace the physical pains that boy was suffering, but that boy was pleading him for some change for his starving family; the wind translated the boy's word to the beast's ears, that by saying family the boy meant some other orphans like him left abandoned in some rundown buildings that had been raided by the soldiers. That kind of thing happened often in the city that people had gotten used to such cruelty now. The beast blinked clearing his mind from the reading.

The boy risked looking up at the hooded figure and seemed deathly shocked finding that it wasn't a human underneath the Palace's robe, his lips trembled after stilled for a breath span, mouthing 'a beast' over and over without daring to make a sound. Kicking his feet repeatedly on the ground, the boy pushed himself away from the beast, screaming in fright when he felt save enough to stand and ran through the slow and tired crowds. Someone must have used some beasts to do their dirty jobs somewhere.

Bland looked up to the direction the fleeing boy had disappeared; some bystanders looked at him and noticed his skin-color and fur-lining on his revealed face. Some people gasped and hurriedly walked away from him, some other were making faces and ignored him all the same, back to their tasks and their poverty. There was no familiarization in the air brushing his awareness, so he decided to look for something to eat in the open landscape outside the city, instead.

The lake on the mountain was almost frozen since it didn't have anywhere to flow to, the surface was already covered with thin layer of ice; Bland didn't find any difficulty to walk on the thin-transparent ice, he was not an earthbound, so he could deny gravity when he meant it. Staring at the dark water underneath the transparent ice in the middle of the small lake, he frowned to himself; the problem was that he'd never find the need to swim, either in such confined water or in currents such as rivers. Remembering that he was a wind-user, he doubted that his body was made to travel under the water. He tinkered with the idea, and questioned his Instinct whether he should cut the water using his wind-blade or just try the humane way….

The voice of Instinct had yet to respond to him, he thought perhaps _it_ was mad at him for letting his Master getting hurt and humiliated and he'd dared himself to feed him with his beast-blood. For now he didn't find the need to make peace with his Instinct, so he put his Master's need for food first. Trying to sense under the water's surface, he found that he couldn't find any trace of water creatures. Doubting his exhausted senses and their accuracy to search in such substance that he'd never really put in good use before; he tried to sense the water again. After finished trying for the third time, he began to suspect that there was something wrong with that lake and not his senses.

"Hello, there, Palace's beast….!" A girl's voice called from the land, Bland turned his head to her; it was a city's girl looking like she was in the middle of food-hunting in the mountain herself, with the tattered plaid-basket in her hand and a pashmina covering her head from the freezing air. She must have recognized him as not a human since he could walk on such thin layer of ice.

"I don't know what you are doing there; but if you're looking for some fish or other prey in that lake, you could just search somewhere where the soldiers hadn't poisoned…!" she said levelly.

Bland stared her wide eyed; she must have thought that he didn't believe her since his face right now was like an apathetic mask. "I saw it myself; they poisoned the waters three days ago..! The citizens already knew it, since they couldn't fish here anymore…!!"

….three days..? Wouldn't that be the day before they charged him for murdering the Palace Counselor? So….could that mean that they already setting it as a trap; they really wanted to let his Master die of hunger…?

"…well, since it's already starting to snow, fishing would be out of the list, anyway…." the girl was still having the one-sided conversation at the rocky shore. "…so, I wonder why they poison it if it's not people's option in the first place..?"

"….do you…. Do you know where to find some human-food..?" the beast asked hesitantly, he tried to read the girl's air but it seemed that she had a strong will that she didn't let it happen. Maybe she was from a beast-tamer's bloodline.

The girl stared him fixedly; "…they don't feed you enough in the Palace..?!" she sounded somewhat brazen for a girl, despite the oppression the Palace's denizens had done to the citizens.

"No, for my Master..!" Bland cut her but realized his words; he clamped his mouth fast and intended to flee the scene.

"You're the Tower's beast..!" she said matter-of-factly without any ill-tempered tone that it made the beast stopped from his escape. "What? They didn't feed someone who was being kept in the Tower, anymore..?" she meant it as only a passing comment, but seemed to realize it as a fact in the end of her sentence for she silenced with a steeling air.

"….so what? You didn't even know where to find what to eat; did you live solely on your Master's blood all your life?" she asked straightforwardly; somewhat sounded like a critic, somehow.

Bland nodded, it's her authoritarian air that he couldn't really deny.

She snorted with a mocking smirk; "So what good would that do?! You couldn't give him your blood or flesh back in time of need; you could heal really quickly but he couldn't use you as his personal food-supply, what a waste of bond..!!"

Bland swallowed his dry throat at her biting words; actually it was an option he himself mulled for a long time in his head, but knowing his Master wouldn't accept it once he gained consciousness.

The girl snorted again, then pointed to somewhere higher she said "Fine..! Go find some cave, try dig some sweet-root or jelly-moss, or some mushroom in the rocky cliffs, but you must be able to distinguish poisons before you go and presented mushrooms since some of them could contain lethal poisons for human beings even though beasts and such creatures wouldn't be affected…! Some sweet-branch you might find from the epiphyte plant of the rowdy-bark trees; or the roots of tail-feather flower hibernating in the sour-grounds…you could just burn them with a little fire to be presentable!"

"…hmm, I guess that's quite much for this time of season; just try find them and explore some more by yourself..!" with that she left the lake without any greeting or farewell.

"…th…thankyou…" Bland bowed awkwardly when he realized the girl already on her way again; she dismissed him with a waving half-concern hand without even looking back, somehow it made it easier for the distressed beast to just take it as a helping hand for he smiled at her leaving figure a little.

…that was the first smile he ever gave to someone else besides his own Master his whole life.

When he got back to the Tower with scraps of food he could find that he thought would be presentable enough for his Master to eat, Bland found his Master was already asleep again; he was still really weak, anyway. And to even survive the poison added the winter-sickness was already a miracle for only a human being; with or without pureblood. Still, a little wave of disappointment dyed what little ease from his beast-heart to murky shade back; he realized it was his first time really took part of actually serving his Master, and somewhere in his heart he wanted that little acknowledgment from him…..that he wasn't a burden, that his Master couldn't live without him..!

Putting the dry leafs-wrapped food on the table, he squatted next to his Master's bed; counting his still weak breaths one by one, feeling more and more empty that his Master didn't wake up even though he was that close to him. Somehow he wanted to blame his Master for not being able to defend himself; that was his life and its circumstances, so why didn't his Master could tame his own life..? Why was he the one had to go through all the trouble with those other humans and their problems…?

_You are free to go_….that weak whisper heard in his head again, already burnt in his mind since the first time his Master said it the other night before he was gravely poisoned and abused.

…_go where….? State it more clearly if you want to get rid of me, Master_…..

His Master let out a weak cough, creasing his brows as if feeling some pain; the beast jerked in alert and took off his robe in a flash, then he covered his Master's body with it, still feeling that he didn't dare to touch him physically, afraid of what his hands could do to him. His Master moaned something under his breath, his fingers curled and got a handful of warm velvet-cloth in his weak balled hand; then his face slackened and his breathing got more peaceful after that; he surrendered to a deeper sleep.

Bland watched him from the floor until late afternoon where he found it was warm enough to take the robe from his Master's body, the food he got that morning still untouched on the table; he thought to himself that he didn't really want his Master to eat those scraps of food, anyway, so he stood and intended to go to the city to find some real human food; perhaps since there were still some nicer people which he could trace with his wind, he might asked them to share a little, and he could help them with their works or anything. With that in mind, the beast walked down the city behind the Palace; slowly strolling the grey roads looking for a slight familiarization from anyone somewhere.

A great hawk circled the sky up there, letting out a warning cry once. Bland looked up as the great hawk landed on the rooftop of some blackened ruins on the cliff side opposite the Palace; he blinked and looked behind and realized that he already crossed the city's radius to the outer cliff side. Looking for a tunnel-gate, he walked along the road to his right; as he found one with no locked fences barricading the entry way, he walked into the tunnel, not really minding the dark and damp air. Some hurried sounds reached him from the stone grounds and walls, his ears heard shouts and labored breaths from various sources; they were getting closer his way.

Suddenly a small ragged bundle fell in front of him from the leeway on the wall. It was a small human child, ragged and dirty that he himself almost couldn't recognize the child as human if not for his senses readings. The human child looked up extremely alert of him, there was a slight wild-light danced in her clear eyes; at first the beast thought that it was a male human child, but once she let out a sound of panic he knew it was a little girl. The shouts then closing in from both directions of the lone tunnel and the child realized that she had ended up in a single-tunnel and she'd be captured soon. Looking frantically for a place to hide, she gripped the thing in her hands to her chest tighter; finding nothing the child then turned at him, a flash of something in her eyes…something humane.

The irony touched the beast's heart, and he opened his arm showing the wide and length of the oversized robe; the child took no time to think and hurriedly dove to his feet, her stiff body eased with a little relief when the black robe covered her figure just seconds before the pursuers passed in front of the beast. There were some curious alert eyes on him as the pursuers passed by, they were some other tunnel-children, some were bigger and looked wilder at him but let him be on the side of the tunnel.

After the ruckus died down for some time, the child peeked from under the robe, relieved that they were alone. She crawled out of the robe and looked behind at the beast; the thing in her hands was secured between her knees and body on the ground. The beast blinked at her, already too familiar with the beastly-gesture somewhat made by the human-child; she grinned not so humanely but still tinted with naivety. She mouthed something not of words, then the beast saw the red slashed scar on the front of the child's neck almost hidden by her dirty state. So, someone had torn her voice-cord, perhaps as punishment to all her family; and may be the rest of her family didn't survive, that's why she was there alone becoming a tunnel-child.

The child let him see what was in her hands; a victorious light touched her eyes. The beast stared, long….

……_.a row over a dead rat….to be eaten…..!_ he thought in his head, his face slack of emotion; somehow he'd known for a long time that his Master's people had been living like this for years; that parents left their ailing or wounded children to their deaths just to reduce mouths to feed in their house, that people sold other people just to get something to eat for the day.

Bland stared at the thing the child dangled in her left arm; she'd ripped the rat's tail and somehow it seemed that she thought it would be a fair trade for his help. The beast shook his head, the child bit the tail and chewed on it a little without hesitation, letting the length of it dangled from her mouth; her wide eyes accepted that he didn't want the piece of the dead rat just as it was, without needing any explanation or reason. Perhaps like she had accepted everything turned wrong in her life; she climbed back up into the leeway and ate there, watching the beast's moves under her.

If she were born as a beast in a pack she'd become an alpha-female….

Summed the episode up with only that the beast walked his way again. He closed his mind for most of the trek since there were too many that would plague his conscience later if he let those occurrences enter his mind. Somehow he ended up in the streets in mid town again; there was a very thin pull weaved in the air as the wind brought it to him; he recognized that air, it was the stubborn-air of that brazen girl he'd met that morning in the mountain. A little excitement awakened in his heart; if it was really her, then he thought she might help him again if he told her his circumstances. Not realizing that his face was flushed with high spirit and a smile, the beast ran to the direction the wind blew the pull from.

As he turned the junction, a dark-air stopped his light steps; a commotion heard, the wind carried the smell of fresh human blood, a mother's cry…..he could distinct a mother's cry above everything else, the sounds weaved with life in it…

There were people gathered circling a house from some distance; the soldiers marched away from the circled house; something black was hung on the house door, dripping red liquid. It wasn't a human's head, the beast's eyes saw; it was a dead decapitated crow, with wings spread wide nailed to the door frame; a sign of warning. His steps followed the sounds of the mother's cry in the house. He stopped at some distance in front of the door, just enough to really see what was he witnessing at the moment.

…he recognized the tattered dress smeared with blood piled in rumpled state on the floor, the wavy-curled long hair that was kept in an untidy tail….that must be the girl's mother crying her heart out covering her beaten girl with her own body; the mother looked just like her, only she had white hair and looked older….

…._is she dead……?_ He remembered he asked that question in his beast-mind; then the mother jerked as if she actually heard it, and stopped crying out loud she stared his standing figure outside their door. There were bruises and cuts on her old face; it seemed that the soldiers had beaten her as well.

They stared each other for sometime, there wasn't any hatred or repulse in her eyes; she just looked tired and understanding. Mothers usually had that kind of understanding-stare in their eyes, the beast thought. The girl's fingers on the floor twitched, and curled clawing at her tattered dirty dress; her mother hurriedly held her as she tried to move her body….she let out a wet gurgle sound with her wheeze, and the beast already knew what had happened before he saw the bloody slash on the front of her neck.

Her tears weren't bitter, weren't even accusing; he remembered the Obelisks' masks even had more expression than her blank face….he stared…

A silent whoosh heard in the air and as a brick hit his head the beast jerked to reality by the sudden pulsing pain, he staggered to his side; a trickle of blood from his temple colored the vision of one of his eyes, a red reminder of what had happened with his Master. Of his sin….

"JINX….!!" A loud shout heard and a bigger rock from a ruin was thrown at him, it hit his back and made him stumble forward on his knees.

"Damn-curse..!! How many people you'd victimize until you satisfied..?!" a woman threw a wooden bucket full of sludge from the sewage. And others followed the example, throwing whatever waste and mud and solid things to the slumped beast in the middle of the street, screaming their anger and curses and accusations; calling him names and wishing him gone to any hell fitting his sins. Blaming him for the late King's death and misfortune that befallen the kingdom since the day he was found….

…so many hatred..

…..so many curses…. And he could remember all those curses one by one…

The girl's face in her house contorted in agony, she was crying as if she was having an unbearable pain, her mother held her quivering body tightly…he could see them clearly without opening his eyes; and the air he breathed full of the smell of waste and tears and blood; he didn't cry….

Just like the little human-child striving to live in the dark tunnel didn't cry….if he were a human, wouldn't they of the same age..? Wasn't he more than lucky to have someone to look after him, someone alone in the Tower that was waiting for him to return…

….it's enough that they abhorred him that much, and even if it was more than this; wasn't he a disgusting jinxed creature from the beginning..? They could curse him, abuse him, murder him all they want….as long as they didn't hate his Master, as long as they hoped for his Master again…

Nothing's wrong with their hatred….nothing's wrong with this world, this life….it's just what he deserve for having a little part of his Master's life, a little of his affection and warmth…and gentle smiles….a little of his soft caress and his tender voice calling his name…..

…everyday…..

Every single day since he hatched to that beautiful face…..to those warm embrace…

Somehow his body couldn't remember the warmth of those hands anymore, his mind couldn't see the bright smiles used to be illuminating his days anymore… he couldn't remember the feeling of being the beloved-one anymore….

A drip of freezing tear fell from the sky….followed by another one...and another.

The condemning circle broke away eventually under the heavy freezing rain, leaving only the pile of dirty and bleeding beast alone on the street still facing the house which door had closed. He slowly, jerkily, lifted his dirty bleeding face up; letting the sharp fall washed it all away from his face…the filth, and blood, and feelings. His skin turned whiter than a human's….

That day a 6-year old child died alone on the street, buried in filth and ruins and rain, but it was a mere usual happenstances in that city. No one cared to even listen his dying heart stopped…

No one's there…..

---------------

He washed himself in the freezing lake in the mountain, not minding the poison that was in the water, nor the cold winter air freezing his wet robe and hair into ice. He didn't even feel the cold anymore.

A great hawk watched him from a frozen branch, he didn't even care a glance at the bird; its knowing eyes felt penetrating his grave-mask, snapping a branch or two with its long lizard-tail. He ignored the bird anyway…

Landed on the Tower's landing silently he entered the room, finding that his Master was sleeping with his back facing the door and him; that meant he had had enough strength to move his body. That's good, a voice in his head stated; then he realized the dried leafs scattered on the bed next to his pillow. He glanced at the table and not finding the scraps of foods he put there that morning. Something shaded a rock in his chest, but he couldn't distinct it as a feeling. Walking to the bed, he knelt down and letting the smell of his Master's filled his air; it felt like lives passed since he inhaled such a fragrant smell.

Brushing his air with his palm the beast checked his Master's condition. His fever had lowered a little; he was exhausted just from the very short walk to the table and eating the small amount of those edible roots and twigs. He smiled at the thought that his Master ate them anyway.

A soft moan heard, and his Master stirred to wake. His face contorted in disturbance, a long sigh; then one ice-blue eye fluttered open.

…….."Bland…" he whispered without a sound, a great relief downed in his eye and face.

"…Master.." the beast acknowledged softly with a gentle voice.

The almost closed ice-blue eye opened widely together with its pair, he didn't recognize the voice coming out from his beastling's mouth, nor the tone of that voice acknowledging him; it was still the same voice and the same tone, but it's not his beastling's…. That day his fevered sleep haunted by a nightmare, that somewhere when he's asleep on a high window-ledge his little cheerful beastling was butchered on the streets far bellow him, and people walked on his dead body as if it was nothing of value; his blood-red vacant dead eye stared at him between those people's feet, a name left unsaid in his stiff lips calling him. He knew it wasn't only a dream….

He pushed a trembling hand up to touch the beast's face, his bent body looming over him looked like a cold dead tree to him; "…you alright….?"

The beast smiled, "Shouldn't I be the one asking that question, Master…?" his smile was liquid and tender, as if a reflection on a still water that would break into tears when he touched his face; so he refrained himself and let his weak arm fell down to the bed again.

"…it was good.." he turned his face and closed his eyes, not wanting to see his failure condemning him on his beastling's face with a smile.

"What was, Master..?" the gentle voice asked.

"…that root and what-else…."

"I'll get you something better tomorrow, Master… Do you want to drink the fever-medicine now, Master?"

….like a doll, a trained nice-behaving doll talking pleasantries and smiles…

"No, Bland…let me sleep.."

"…yes, Master….."

And even though he'd shooed him away, sleep denied him despite his wracked body punishing him with pains and fatigue. He'd failed his little beastling; he should have pulled him instead of letting him go….at the time it felt like a noble thing to do, freeing him of their ties; he thought his beastling would fly away from his damned life freely into the blue bright sky, but he'd forgotten that the sky outside was murky and cold. He'd released him to a slaughter-ground alone….and he's not even conscious to see it happening from the higher-view.

….he's a failure even as a human to a beast……

"…Master, ….'something hurting..?" a soft whisper heard from a blurry black above him, he averted his opened eye from that shadow.

"….nothing…" he mouthed; then there was the familiar warmth of a black velvet robe covered his body again on top of the thin blanket. A little rustling sound; and he felt cool wet cloth wiping his shirtless back where the hot crisscrossing lines burning fire in his flesh; he jerked at the first touch, but soon found it like heavenly caress. Sighing, he closed his eye; biting his lower lips while his hand clawed at the pillow.

"…enough…get in bed, Bland..!"

There was a long pause answering him from behind his back, no sound, no movement; somewhere in his mind a voice whispered that he was just waking up from a dream where his beastling came back to him and when it's not a dream anymore his beastling had actually never come back.

"….Bland,…don't make me repeat myself…." He mumbled; knowing that the voice spoke the truth, that his beastling had died somewhere he couldn't reach. If only he could pull him back into his arms again….was it too late now…?

A silent creak answered his haunted mind behind him, then a smaller warm body pressed to his back gently outside the cocoon of the covers; a smaller arm embraced him, "…warm enough, Master..?" the voice sounded like a trained one, without other feelings besides secretly enduring. He jerked open his balled hand gripping the pillow as he couldn't find enough strength to hit the mattress. _Since when did his Bland have to endure him…?!_

"No..!" he squirmed to get away from his beast's arm; his beast didn't move, only staring him with his alien eyes. "…help me sit…!" The beast did as he was told, like a trained doll; then sat back on the edge of the bed waiting for the next order from his Master after he's done catching his breath. A little pull made him rearrange the pooled robe behind his Master's slumped figure leaning to the cold wall to cover his shoulders, he stilled as his Master's eyes burnt at his with that little action, a flash of something bright in his ice-blue eyes. He blinked once, and sat back putting his hands on his own laps; waiting. The light in his Master's eyes dimmed again.

"Come here…!" came the order, his master opened up his arms and the space between his legs. He didn't move; something's not moving inside him.

"Bland...!" his Master's voice had an edge in it; he still didn't move, staring at his demanding eyes and not feeling anything.

"…Why not?" there's a bitter tone in his gentle voice, "Don't deny my wish, Bland..!" it sounded like a plea than an order.

It's true, he's a beast and he shouldn't deny his Master's wish, the beast-rules printed in his mind stated; so he moved on four and sat between his Master's legs, not moving as his larger hands pulled his body to lean on his feverish chest. "….how old are you now…?"

There was a blink from the long white eyelashes brushing his left shoulder, "..six winters"

"And how old am I…?"

A pause, another blinked; "….something…like twenty winters….." came the hesitant answer.

That brought a reflexive chuckle from his Master, "….something-like-twenty…what number is that..?"

The beast stared his Master's relaxed face above his, but the smile only lasted for an instant; he blinked dismissing the thought before it formed in his beast-mind. Even though his Master's knowing-eyes seemed to catch it happening, Master always had that knowing-stare in his eyes, his mind stated.

"In that case, I'm older than you, am I not…?" his whisper became steady with the rhythm of his eased breath and beating heart. "No matter how old you become, how big your body would be…I'd still be older than you, wouldn't I..?"

He didn't know what this conversation got to do with him being a beast and his Master being his Master; he blinked. "Yes, Master…"

"Then…." The larger hand stroking the back of his head felt nice, feeling his hair slid between the fingers. "It's alright to cling to me…!" The hand pressed his head to rest on the firm shoulder; he'd known that as a fact and he didn't need anyone to say it with words, he thought.

"Yes, Master…"

The hand stroking his head paused for a second; it seemed that his answer wasn't satisfactory enough.

"So…..it's alright to make me responsible for your life..!"

"Yes, Master.." the image of a human-child balled in a dark and cold leeway eating a dead rat replayed in his mind, he had more than that, he didn't have the right to ask for more.

"Then, don't leave me, Bland..!" the firm words weren't a request.

"Ye--" and the larger hand pushed his face to the shoulder firmly, not allowing him to answer with that distant tone.

"Don't leave me, Bland..!" the other hand pulled his body flat to his Master's body from behind his waist. He blinked.

"Don't leave me…!" It's confusing now; he's there so why was his Master so desperate saying it..?

"Don't leave me…don't leave me…don't you dare leave me, Bland..!!"

His red-eyes glanced at the sides fast, it's not that it was suffocating, he could push his hands to break away from those weak hands; so he could say his answer….wasn't he answering his Master all along…?

"Mm-hmm…?" he called his Master not understanding why he wasn't allowed to speak.

"Don't leave me…even if it's painful, and hard to bear; you're not allowed to leave me, Bland..!"

He stilled, something inside him clicked, and it felt hurting.

"Even if I told you to go, and I'm dead…don't leave me..!!"

Something cold biting inside his chest, it was fear; he didn't want to hear more and tried to push his Master's body although he realized that he couldn't. "…ngggh…?" he moaned, asking if he could break away from his Master's embrace.

"Even if I don't need you anymore, and I kill you…don't ever leave me…!!"

He widened his red-eyes, something's breaking inside him; closing his hot eyelids slowly as his body slumped like wet cloth onto his Master's hot body, he sobbed. If he's really allowed to stay at his Master's side, even if he had no form anymore…no voice to call him, and no shape to be seen….

…_..is that alright, Master…? _

"Don't leave, Bland…you're mine..!" his Master's whisper sounded like he was smiling out a flow of tears.

"….yes, Master….." he sniffled a wet sob, feeling something ready to explode inside his throat and it's hurting so much. His Master was kissing his tearful closed eye, and it felt burning; he let out a whimper and surprised at the childish sound coming out of his mouth.

"It's alright….!" His Master whispered, kissing his temple and all over his face he could reach; he tried to push him away but his small hands seemingly wanted to pull him instead, and in the confusion of sobs and tears and kisses and entangling hands he decided that it was too much so he threw himself onto his Master's shoulder and desperately cling to him just like he's allowed to.

"It's alright, Bland…!" he embraced his quivering beast again, relieved that his little beastling was still there and he made it in time before he totally loose him to the world.

"…Master!!"

"….who hurt you..?" That silent question was too much and without him realizing he was crying brokenly, howling broken words that he himself couldn't recognize the meaning, clawing and pulling at the black robe covering his Master's shoulders, wanting to have all of him for himself.

"I'm here, Bland…it's alright..!" his Master's gentle voice repeating those words felt painful, and he cried out even more.

---------------

The birds chirped outside on the landing and the windows ledge, cocking their heads with their curious eyes staring into the peaceful room. Somewhere in the middle of the night the atmosphere inside had turned brighter like a new flowering season; they wondered why they wanted to be called into that new season.

A soft long moan broke the birds' curiosity about the room's air, and they stared at the beast stirring to wake on the bed.

One, then another one of those red-eyes fluttered open; the birds watched the face scrunched in the bright morning light pleasantly, and they liked it. Some of them greeted the beast with their chirps; and when that face turned his face at them and smiled, they flapped their wings happily.

A pleasant weight leaned on his left shoulder, and his left hand absentmindedly stroked the soft long hair he could reach behind the warm body. It took him quite some time before he realized that he'd made his Master's recuperating body to sleep sitting against the cold wall the whole night, embracing him and whispering words of comfort. The realization crashed down with a surprise, even though he only jerked in fear of disturbing his Master's sleep, but the birds broke away from that curious circle and flew into the winds.

He stared wide eyed with a bright flushed face at the sleeping face next to his own, their faces were so close that when he moved their cheeks brushed. Feeling a little floating, he slowly set his Master's body to lie down on the bed; gave his legs some massage in case they'd cramped, and his long arms after that. Some broken red scars on his Master's white wrist made him stunned; he blinked a few times, adjusting his mind to remember what happened last night.

…..while saying words of comfort which seemingly only baited his hysterical cry more, his Master kissed all over his face, and he actually kissed his mouth but he didn't realized it at first about the blood swallowed in his mouth until his Master repeated that action again after he sucked more of his blood from his wrist and kiss-transferred it again…

His flushed face exploded red smoke; "…uh….wahh…!" he covered his face with the back of his hands in turns, feeling like wanted to erase his face because of shame.

A soft chuckle from the bed's occupant, even though he didn't see it himself, made him realized that his Master's was awake and knowing his mind. He dove to the mattress hiding his head between his balled body and bent legs and enfolding arms; if there's a hole he'd want to crawl in it now.

"….'morning, Bland…" his Master's voice sounded content; and he felt giddy hearing it.

"….good morning, Master….." he greeted shyly with a smile, still hiding his face from his Master's gentle smile.

"Feel better now..?"

"….---shouldn't I be the one asking that, Master…?" he protested, but smiling nonetheless, pulled his head out of his makeshift hiding-hole; and he squirmed when his Master's hand cupped his face and stroked his cheek and temple with his long fingers, but didn't pull away. The visible shining specks on his red skin had gone completely, he knew those physical wounds could heal almost immediately, but his beast's heart was not as resilient. He kissed the smaller hand and fingers repeatedly, enjoying his beast's squirms with his flushed face and trying to act usual while it's obviously showed on his face and his body language. He felt becoming a little evil and chuckled to his fidgeting fingers.

……"…Master, I need to find you something to eat…!" the beast tried to pull his hand but didn't really mean it; that brought another smile from his Master, and he tried to avert his eyes from that dazzling face.

"Masteer…I'm going to do my task, don't disturb me..!" he complained.

He chuckled and let his beast's hand go, watching him prepared the washcloth with a bowl of tap water and warm water in the wooden mug, and set them on the chair next to his pillow. His beast put the black robe on, and fast stole a peck on the back of his right hand; "…I love you, Master..!"

"Love you too, Bland…" his Master answered gripping the end of the robe and let it slip from between his fingers. The beast giggled running out, his heart lifted to the ninth clouds; even though he knew that a beast's love and a Master's love could never be the same.

---------------

---------------

…..when it's chopped down into some shorter pieces, you'd thought that you have some more room to write; so it ended up getting (even more) longer than saru first intended….or the (…let's see…) third time saru intended…. Haa hahahahaaaa…

Saru got drowned a little in the Bland's part, and typed it while crying (most people didn't belief saru when they're told that saru could get carried away in the story n thus crying out loud while drawing the comics; but they believed it when saru tip them off about the snot n what-else dripping onto the -wrinkled- comic-sheet….why is that?!) ……..Sister-snake leered with a disgusted face when she found saru crying-n-typing this part; perhaps she really minded whether saru typed the keyboard with slimy fingers before she'd use it…! n"n;


	25. 21 broken masks

**whiteshade of blackness 'gaku** **11 augt****, 200****8**

**# ****21 Broken masks **

_The rain kept pouring for hours, he felt his fingers already frozen, they didn't tremble anymore…he kept them between his balled body and bent knees; trying to keep furling and unfurling his toes so he could still feel his ground. The wet rock felt sharp as if biting his soles with its coldness; he willed himself to keep humming his song to keep the blustering thunder from his mind. His body shook violently, and his chin pressed hard to his knees to keep his teeth from rattling because he could feel the blood in his mouth from its bitten insides._

_In the distance he could hear the sounds of the world's army, disguised by the sounds of the unending rainfall._

_He willed his body to stand his ground. The black-rocky grounds stretched out boundlessly around him made his pale figure distinctive on the top of some pile of rocks._

…_they will come….. they will come, and he has to protect Him…_

_He repeated that thought to keep his mind conscious. The wounds from the last fights were yet to heal, but he knew he was the one who chose to do this; that thought alone kept him alive._

_He smiled his small smile hidden behind his knees….there was someone in the deep tunnel behind him that would always be there, waiting for His loved-one to come for Him, and free His sorrowful figure from its cage; and even though he didn't know when that would happen, he could only hope for that time to come and guard the entrance to the cave; hoping that if ever he lost his life first, there would be someone to take his place of guarding that cave,…that beautiful Void that was his everything._

_A crack of thunder jerked his body; he tilted his head up a little, the currents of that lightning was close enough that he felt his wet hairs stood on their ends. When he lowered his eyes again to the far gray horizon separating the black grounds and the black layers of clouds, he widened his eyes._

_The distant gray line started to get filled with specks of pale colors, small dots of lights which he knew were not the fire-dragonflies started to connect a round line from all around him._

_He momentary forgot of the hard falling rain and its biting coldness. His body forgot to shiver. His mind stopped repeating his incantation._

_For a moment his hope wavered…._

_He half-consciously stood on the pile of high rock; the deafening thunder mocked his determination. He didn't have to look around to see that they were closing in from all directions._

_Looked down to his naked feet; pale and skinny, with countless half-healed scars marred them; he curled his toes once, feeling his sole ground, the cold and hard rock that wouldn't care even if the whole world butchers him on it._

…_this would be the last one, then….his mind whispered to his heart, knowing his body's limit of being only a little unkempt boy against that many of assailants, urging it to let go the only hope that kept him clinging even despairingly to this miserable life; a small part of his mind felt grateful that he could eventually stop fighting this endless strive._

_A lone tear escaped his eye. It burned before the cold rain washed it from his already wet cheek._

_He looked straight forward; there was no one there that would replace him…not anywhere…not anyone! So he should stand his ground no matter what._

_He closed his eyes, with resolve burning in his heart; knowing painfully that it was his last fragment of determination that this life allowed him to burn. The cold rain didn't make him tremble anymore, it's not his enemy; it was his ally that weakened the world's army and slowed them from coming sooner. When he would look up again later, he knew there would be a shining lone-sun up there protecting him like his long-lost half, and the sky's eyes watching over him like a distant mother._

…_.after the fight is over…!_

…_when the fight is over, he will go inside the cave and knowing his reason to survive would always be there; his mind whispered to his heart, …when his wet body already dried up, and his wounds were not as fleshy, and his blood congealed; he would come down, and he could smile his small smile for Him; so He wouldn't as lonely…._

_A small smile bloomed on his bluish lips…he cherished this gap of time before they got there, realizing that this was his last peaceful time. Just a scrap of time against all eternity…_

_He thanked the Fates that they had allowed him to have this much in his life._

_Opening his eyes, his mind's eyes presented its last gift to his longing heart : the image of one-violet eye in the darkness that never really looked at him._

…_even against the whole world…!_

……_the cracking thunder was his war-cry…._

_Even though that one-violet eye never really looked at him…._

He jerked opening his eyes in an instant; mind still high in a distant-reality, his heart longing to stay with that pale figure so small alone on the deserted rocky grounds. There were unending sounds coming from all around him, but not the sound of rain. Blinked several times to bring his mind to the present, he felt the uneven movement of the ground he was on. Propping his upper body with his elbow, he looked around his closed environment.

Right, he was on the caravan floor, of course. And it was bright all over.

The unending sounds were coming from the sands crushed by the caravans' wheels, and riding-beasts.

"Ah, you're awake…!" There was a greeting from the front door of the caravan, he could see Ell was holding the caravan's rein loosely…and that was supposed to be the caravan entrusted to them, his logics said.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I should be the one driving this caravan for you, not the other way around..!" he jumped to his knees.

The girl laughed at his expression, and the fact that he was battling his blanket just to get up. "It's okay, it's used to be the caravan I'm in charge of..! Besides, I got to see something great last night…" Ell grinned fanning her hand to him, "AAAAWWH…He's so COOOLL, I envy youuu…!!" and that seemed to be the quote of that day, his mind warned him.

"…wha….?" He half-smiled forlornly.

"…slim supple body, slender arms and legs, beautiful face, enchanting voice…darn, I really envy you..!!"

"…ummm, hello..?" he tried to stop the giggling girl. "…Are you talking about my-.."

"BWAAAhhahahahahaahh…!!!" she beat him with her fanning hand so fast that it blurred almost to invisible.

"….and what is that supposed to mean….?" He asked with a suspicious tone, seeing the girl's face inflamed when she dismissed him with her laugh before.

"…How'bout you..? What were you doing sleeping on the stairs of Aku's caravan…?" Ell got the right question to divert the conversation's track.

He stiffened in a heart-beat, eyes widened realizing what he'd done –which seemingly he didn't realize it when he did it, Ell watched his face with a knowing smile. He tried a couple time, and found his voice.

"Ehh…I.. I was..I thought I'm going to have something to ask him about something else…! I didn't realize that I fell asleep on his stairs..!!" he reasoned with half-panic; truth was he only remembered that he was having doubts on what he was going to do there, and while he thought he would wait until the bandaged man or Rice found him, he sat on the black-caravan's stairs...and the winds must had him fell asleep there.

Ell chuckled at him. "It's okay, Aku didn't find you served on his plate like that. It was Rice who took you back here…!"

That stilled his panic, "….Rice did…?" So, the fox did find him, fast asleep, that was….

"Yes, Rice is very gentle before fullmoon-fights, you know…-must be something to do with his in heat-nature…" she mumbled the last parts between giggles, hidden behind her hand.

He sweatdropped, sensing something suggestive in the girl's acts. "…..what do you mean 'serve on his plate'…?" his mind warned him that he wouldn't like to hear the truth in words.

"You don't know? Aku feed in full moon..!" Ell stared him with clear eyes, "ESPECIALLY full moon..!!" she stressed her word.

"That….includes me…?" he grinned his nervousness on one end of his lips.

"That includes everyone..! Aku eats everything!" she smiled looking forward again.

She said it as if that's something relieving to hear, his logics reasoned. He didn't say anything else; moved to the front chair next to the girl, feeling relieved by the wind giving some comfort to his sweaty heated skin. Judging from the heat, it was almost high-noon; he didn't realize it he'd slept for that long. And to say that he didn't realize falling asleep in the first place; and even the sound of the fight last night didn't wake him…..

Ell saw the Archant's face flushed at something in his mind, she thought she knew what he was thinking; besides, he was still as clear as crystal for everyone to see, that's one thing she was envious about, for being that innocent with that looks. She smiled, "You shouldn't worry too much, you'll get better soon, he said…!"

He glanced at the girl, "…….get better..?" he asked flatly.

"Heat-sickness is not something you should be ashamed of, especially when you're not used to sunlight..!"

He blinked to that; heat sickness…? His mind repeated; his logics pointed that his Beast must have told the troupe people… no, implied it to them that he was having heatstroke or something alike; his mind told him that his Beast was the kind who would choose to say nothing to lying.

"So…what happened last night..?" he asked as he observed that the rides were not much different from yesterday, except for their full loads of things.

"Hmmmm….Aku laughed…"

"Ha…?" he sweatdropped again, that was not he'd expected to be the first report.

"Rice danced graciously as always…."

"…dance?"

Ell mimicked the fox's claws with the gracious movement that somehow didn't fit in his logics.

"The others could fend most of the beasts alright…" Ell nodded to herself, satisfied with her people.

After that she didn't elaborate more; that was not he really asked to hear, actually, but he didn't say it, he didn't want to be thought as someone uncaring of others especially since the others had been so nice to him. He heard Ell chuckled deeply at his side, seemed like she knew about his thoughts yet again.

"….he could be a great dancer, you know…!" she started; before he could say something she added with a finality tone, "AND we could earn a lot of MONEY..!!"

He choked on what ever he was going to say at first, and coughed once; "…and what is that supposed to meannn..?!" he asked explosively with a flushed face.

"Hmmmm…too bad he's not a people's person…!" Ell ignored him and entertained herself with her own thoughts.

---------------

(flashback)

The winds brought the smell of varied beasts through the rock site, the beasts in the cages had become agitated since the afternoon, riding-beasts were hidden in their cages; women and children put in guarded caravans in the center of the caravan circle under the cover of some sheltering rocks that almost formed like a short two-ways cave. Men took guards around the vehicles; rough and hard goods were put in the carts and covered with thick tarps.

The Beast squatted on a high rock, assessing his view down and around. He's not surprised that some older children were joining the guards, some older men seemed to be lightheartedly training them at the last moment; skills that could be used in battles and in performances, throwing knives, whips, even slingshots. The last thing attracted his interest; it was as if they were playing, with their good humored faces and laughter like that. His eyes looked melancholic for a while; the children being raised in dangerous and unpredictable grounds, they played with dangers.

"What's so melancholic about it…?" Rhyssé's voice sounded from behind him, on another top of high rock near the one he was at.

"…aa.." he didn't really answer, a small smile tugged on his lips.

That made the fox snorted, "You were raised like that…?"

He had experienced many ways of being raised; he didn't even remember which was considered good and which was bad; which was the illusion he was longing for, and which was really past memory.

"…I don't really remember…It's a good sight..!" he answered flatly.

The thick air of yellow-orange sunlight made his tan skin glowing; his brown hair looked soft dancing in the breeze, his melancholic eyes had a watery sheen that glistened in the painting-worth scenery. "You look better in my sight..!" the fox said openly. His sweet-scent had been reigned in since this morning; he looked serene in some ways.

"You don't want to be here…" the Beast whispered softly.

The anklets jingled playfully, the fox was swinging his foot indifferently, looking at the far line of rippling horizon where the shadows of the closing beasts had blackened the color. "They'd destroyed my home….those humans and their hunters..!"

The anklets sounded sharper since he started kicking the rock with his heel, "I don't remember much about my life there…instincts don't keep much memory, right..?" he smirked.

"Just some things we should be alert of, some sounds and voices, some smells…of food, of water, of pack……we played in the rain, and gathered at sunset…we sang at sunrise, danced in dark-sun, and howled at the moon…ran on the grass, raced to the cliff tops, and howled at the moon…"

"…gathered at sunset, and howled at the moon….." he whispered silently, his eyes looked so distant.

The Beast glanced at his face; an almost smirk on his lips….._beasts and moons…!_ His mind commented.

"First waaave…!!" one of the scout-men shouted from the top of one of the outer high rocks that were about three-four meters high from the grounds, waving two small flags as signals to his comrades. The Beast looked up; the white round moon had yet to shine. He looked down again, noticing some rock-hounds waited in the outer circle sitting on the sands, several other were waiting around the foot of the high rock where their tamer was sitting on its top, waiving their short skinny tails with thorny ends slowly.

"You trained them well…" the Beast pointed at the hounds near him with his chin.

"They like my smell..!" the fox smirked; then jumped to a lower rock in front of the Beast, lifting his right hand to give his hounds their signal. The rock-hounds down on the sand spread and moved forward, countering the enclosing line that formed like a wave of collapsing sand.

"Rynn, sand-spiders..!!" the girl with short-swords and whip from this morning meeting shouted to the girl serving the Old Lady. The girl called Rynn nodded, and started to blow her short flutes, interlocked by a curved frame that made them resemble a crescent-clam. Soft tunes at first, then sharper and highpitched ones followed.

The Beast on the far high rock furrowed his brows a little at the sound; the fox down there chuckled without looking back at his face, "They're good-persevering creatures, too, you know..!"

"…I don't see why not…!" the Beast said flatly; thinking that they must be better than some trained soldiers to be able to fend some beasts with this kind of sound –aside from its beautiful tune, its _highpitched-ness_ was more than disturbing. That actually made the fox laughed, the Beast could smell pride wafted from his direction; he must be very pleased with his human-pack.

Suddenly from under the moving sand-wave sprung the first beasts that attacked them, the sand spiders were the kind of beast that live in packs; nomadic creatures that leave no survivor from their preys; in normal circumstances it's not common for them to hunt like this, they usually waited in their trap-holes they made in the sands; a pack of sand-spiders consisted of at least 15-20 could make a number of trap-holes not less than 50 holes. Their largest adults could reach the size of about 1.5 meters only for their body length, with the span of their multi-jointed legs to 2-3 meters wide armed with hooks and spurs, and a poisonous sting at their rears; while their smalls were about the size of a human baby when they first hatched. They made a rapid clicking sound by rubbing their small false-legs located in front of their biting mouthparts together; those false legs were originally the mouthparts extensions used for bringing their foods to their mouth openings. With their size they could easily prey on horses and camels individually.

The rock-hounds at the outer circle swiftly countered the attacking spiders by jumping to their backs and biting at the leg joints that were not covered by their hard exoskeleton; while they slowed the spiders, the troupe's guards would attack their eyes with small crude bombs, or stabbed their weaker body-segment using sharp weapons. There were quite a number coming to the caravan where Rynn stood on its roof playing her flutes; it seemed like her highpitched tunes really bothered them and disoriented their senses. Some archers and knife-throwers had geared up on the same roof and in the caravan, shooting some crude bombs into the spiders' mouths when they open their openings to make a reflexive menacing screech as a reaction to the flutes' sounds.

The Beast on the high rock watched with a straight face. The troupe's people were more than just some artists, apparently. The girl with the whip had a high accuracy of throwing the small spiders from climbing the caravans to where the hounds waiting their bonus-meal on the sands. He thought something like 'which ones prey on which', witnessing the slaughter.

"Small sand-spiders taste almost like crabs mixed with grilled chicken, you know..?" suddenly the fox said conversationally without looking back at him, "Sharp smelled, but that's what made them popular with rich people; some diners in big cities would book some hunters for them". His eyes following the 10years old boy from yesterday who called him Ricy; he was gathering fallen pieces of small spiders into the basket attached on his back, keeping the coming spiders by shooting some powder bombs with a slingshot; the other bigger spiders he left his older people to deal. The boy seemed to feel the fox's eyes on him for he turned his head in the middle of the messy fight and gave a 'V' sign with a big grin on his face; then back concentrating to the meal-collecting.

The Beast blinked once; true, it's eat or be eaten in the wilderness.

Rhyssé chuckled, "That's Clay; he's the one who named me when he found me years ago..! The troupe took me in since he wanted me in; they're simple people, it's only needed one person from their circle to want someone to be taken in to join their pack."

The Beast stared down at the now dirty boy; so basically the fox's pack was that boy, not this whole pack of human.

"I tell you this now; if ever your curse cause harm to him, I won't let you get away easily..!" then he turned his head to the Beast behind, smiling; "We have our conditions, simple as they are; but you wouldn't care since you're leaving after full moon, right?" There was a disappointment in his voice, but he smiled nevertheless.

The Beast didn't say anything to that, but the fox didn't need any answer; after nightfall there came bigger and more vicious beasts that the fox came down into the fight, shooing the older children into their prepared caravans with their earned meals to their mothers and aunts and sisters who wrapped them in blankets wetted by special oils to keep the other beasts tracking their bodies that smelled like the insides of butchered sand-spiders.

He joined the fights when he thought he saw the holes in the troupe's defenses, only filling in when they seemed to be in dangers. To his disappointment, that Aku-guy didn't come out from his place in the dark; he only heard the man laughing when the fox made some mistakes and caught in tangles from somewhere, when he tried to find him, the bandaged man seemed to be laughing from somewhere else. He heard the fox cursed something like "Shuddup, Jinx..!!" several times, that only fuelled the man's laughter more. What bothered him was that he couldn't smell the man's presence even in the heat of the fight where his senses should be awakened to their sharper state.

To fight alongside the fox was easier, because he didn't need to mind the humans near him since they usually could not keep up with his movements and might be injured accidently by his attacks. The troupe's females seemed to catch it the wrong way since they were actually watching them fighting away creatures bigger than horses back-to-back for some time now; the fox's gracious fighting-style could be categorized as dancing even for himself, but his own fighting was pure reflex, only encountering what came his way and preventing potential attacks from his surrounding, or so he thought.

"…do you think this is fine with those human-females…?!" the Beast whispered flatly when they made a cross contact in mid air from their jumps.

The fox actually laughed at his concern, "Haahha..!! That's why full moon is mating time..!!" he landed on one of the hounds' back and let it took him to another battle spot, leaving the Beast alone, knowing he himself were letting out lusty-smell more than those females' combined just by 'hearing' the Beast's body making actions.

To his disappointment, or excitement, he couldn't decide which; the Beast seemed to follow him even to other fighting spots.

"….do you have something to be settled with my Human..?" he slashed a half-blobby creature with the black-metal stick he was using.

"What..?" the fox took the moment's gap after slashing a pair of winged things in mid air and landed on the Beast's stick that at the time held horizontally in front of him. "What got that issue out NOW..?!" he knew he must be thickly smelled like jealousy and possessiveness, over something that's not his, to make it worse.

The Beast stared him in the eyes with something akin to beam-shot(1), and made him visibly cringed in a moment's fear. He made a long back flip, and a series of mid-air spins to slash some other small creatures to be smaller in pieces with his blade-nails; then back landed on the Beast's shoulders, with his back to him, half-realizing that he didn't want to counter the Beast's stare again.

"I only took him back into the caravan..!! You want Aku to find him instead?!"

The Beast leaped from the rock onto the roof of one caravan, the fox leaped from his shoulders in the middle of the way; while the Beast crushed the beasts around him with circling motions of his long stick, the fox managed to land behind him after cutting some other swarming winged things in the air, without getting hit by the Beast's stick.

"You should call me before you decided to do that..!" the Beast turned his chin a little to the side; the fox who was still squatting behind him gaped at that, "Oh! Are you that jealous just because I ACTUALLY didn't do something harmful to YOUR human..?!", he knew that the Beast knew that he had dark thoughts over Archants; speaking of in a wide range.

That might be the fact that made the Beast heated, the fox thought, since he actually didn't do anything in a bad term to that Archant when he had the chance, that the Beast might concluded that he had _nicer_ thoughts over his Human instead; this was full moon, anyway.

The Beast jumped high and hi-jacked a deformed-bug's back to crush its smaller kinds in the air, and crashed the big thing onto the sand by stabbing his stick to the creature's head that it actually nailed the thrashing creature half-drowned into the ground with the force of the blow.

The fox eventually got a little intimidated by the show of his strength, he threw a scattered hook and some pointy parts of other slaughtered beasts on the caravan roof to some beasts that were climbing the other caravans without looking at them; "I ONLY licked your human ONCE..!" he stood and said in deviance.

The females crowded on their caravan's window fell back together in an instant; "…so that's what the problem is..!" one of them said tremblingly with tears on the ends of her eyes, seemingly having a hard time keeping her voice low and not laughing. "…khhkhhhckkh..stupid-Rice for being a beast himself…!!" one of her friends covered her mouth with both hands to stifle her laughter; their friends were in the same condition on the caravan floor giggling and chuckling with faces red from holding back and laughing tears in their eyes.

"Kkhhh..!" he flustered suddenly since he could hear what those females were saying, and laughing at.

"…just THE ENDS OF HIS FINGERS, anywaaay..!!" he yelled waving his arms like a mosquito, seemingly directed more to the female humans than to the Beast.

There was the sound of people laughing in an instant, despite the ongoing battle; in the background, Aku's deep chuckle was heard more than the foreground's sounds. The fox seemed surprised with a flustered face, turned his head to his side yelling "SHUDDUP, Aku..!!"

He then jumped onto the slower-thrashing creature that the Beast still stood on with his last pose. Landed exactly in front of him between his hand holding the stick vertically and his chest, the fox looked up to the Beast's eyes; so close that their noses almost bumped. "…I want YOU more, you know that..!!" he countered flatly, keeping his voice low.

The Beast seemed to be not impressed by what he admitted, staring levelly the fox's eyes with icy stare. The fox smirked to himself, "…Or do you have other reasons that made you not letting anyone to touch your human…?" he whispered.

The Beast's narrowed eyes seemed to intrigue him more; he knew he's playing with burning fire now, even the attacking beasts seemed to instinctively getting away from them. Well, he couldn't turn back now, knowing the Beast's stick behind his back could crush him easily if he ever did that. "I knew that he's nothing of the kind of what he showed outside even without licking him..!" he, too, narrowed his eyes, hiding his nervousness with a smirk.

The sharp realization of the Beast's cold breath on his own face, and his cursed-painful-beating heart in front of his chest, and his strong hand, so lethal that he could feel the cold-air along the stick's length behind his back made his lust multiplied and he momentarily forgot about his surrounding; as he breathed hotly, the fox stuck out his tongue to taste that dangerous-cold-fire in front of his face that made his whole body burnt with lusty craving.

Before his tongue managed to lick the Beast's thinned lips, the Beast's other hand that was down grabbed his neck and crushed him to his front, immobilized him; while his cold lips touched his ear and whispered very silently, "…if you ever…."

The fox's eyes cleared a little from his lust-clouded state hearing its coldness.

"…get near my Human without my eyes watching over you, .._again_…"

The fox's lips that were crushed to the Beast's shoulder in that deadly hug trembled a little, his face flustered.

"…you could forget that this head once attached to this body by this neck..!" the dark blue pointed nails ghosted on the fox's nape up and down a couple times, making him shivered visibly. The oppressing strength, and the full moon's pull, and the dangers from both his surrounding and the beautiful creature pressing his body to his front, were a mixed recipe for a perfect masochistic craving.

The fox pushed the Beast's body with his trembling hands weakly. "…if you keep this up… I'm going to attack you right here, right now….!" he warned distractedly, his fox-eyes had dilated almost filling his visible sockets wholly, darkened by lust and hunger.

Amulet-fox sometimes preyed on their weaker mates when they're mating, that's what caused their number to be scarce even without the humans hunting them uncontrollably. He felt the short-tails covering his crotch from between his legs from behind started to arch, loosening their clutches in his loose baggy pants. The fox knew he's going to loose it in a few more heartbeats; he tried to push his body from the much stronger Beast's hold, before he really attacked the Beast; it was half a joke before that day, now his body meant business. He jerked and tremblingly tried to push the Beast's body away. At a soft current of cold air brushing his feverish forehead, he looked up to the Beast's eyes, and realized that he was evilly enjoying his loosing-fight.

"You..--!!" he quipped with shock at the fact that he was the one being toyed with.

The Beast lowered his face to lick his neck once, his tongue was biting cold; but what had him frozen instantly was the dark unholy tone when the Beast said, "…I, too, can eat you…!"; so slowly and softly, it really made his feverish hot body shivered with goosebumps.

Then the Beast left him standing there unable to move, he was grateful that he did that without showing his face to him, he wasn't sure he could face the creature who whispered so sweetly with that deadly voice without loosing his right mind. '…you don't know him, do you..?', Aku's words came unbidden in his shocked mind. He gritted his teeth, clenching his fists tightly that even drew blood from his broken palms, trying to constrict his lust turned fear wildly. After that, as he let his instinct steered his actions into the fight, the rest of the full moon night was a blur to him; he only knew that he had to protect his human-pack from the attacking beasts, and let Aku took care of what he missed.

(end flashback)

---------------

He could hear his Human in the caravan front seat, knowing he could feel his presence he let him with the girl for the time being.

The fox had yet to speak to him since last night; the female humans thought that what he was doing last night was really making a move on him. That, in another POV was right; but he didn't try to clear it with them, or with the fox. He could feel the burning stare behind his back from the fox a few caravans away, he smirked to himself, knowing that the fox knew that he'd been playing with him for the last days. A little evil was not his intention; for him, at least from his POV it was just a little show of territorial warning; but perhaps the fox had taken his presence a little too serious from the beginning, the fact that the fox had let him get into his space unguarded. He'd been with too many humans and became too civilized; it's not bad, it's just that it made the fox let down his guards too easily with stranger beasts. He knew that it was not his business, but seeing the fox's cheerfulness reminded him of _someone_ he knew before who used to be overly possessive over him; he just didn't want him to get burnt later.

As if answering his thought, a chestnut head stuck up from the side of the caravan where there was a ladder for climbing up to the roof. A pair of violet eyes blinked once, wide and bright with innocence. He cocked his head a little to the side staring at them, the pair of violet eyes drooped with a smile at his greeting.

"It's hot up here, why don't you get to the shady side..?" his Human asked while sitting on the roof next to his spot.

"I can see much clearly up here.." he answered half caringly, but his hands came up to fix the black-cloth to cover his Human's head from the blazing sunlight.

"Hahaa…you can feel the breeze much better here..! But it will be too hot after some time!" his Human found a comfortable way to sit and covered his lower body with the black-cloth. He passed the time by humming some mixed parts of some songs he found in his scattered memory in his sleep, sometime he felt his Beast side glanced at him when he thought he hummed some older-of-olds songs.

He chuckled, "Something familiar..?" he asked with a bright smile. His Beast only snorted with a pleased face, but answered nothing. After some time passed, he eventually asked conversationally, "….why is Rice staring at you like he wanted to skin you alive…?"

The Beast glanced back without really looking at the fox, "I warned him a little last night…"

"Hmm.." he took the end of his braid from behind and played with it, "I think I know actually how much your scale of 'a little' would be…!" his humming turned to chuckles for a short tune, he was flicking the end of his loose braid playfully; "…so, is he giving a grudge-full predator's eyes to you because of what you do or because of me…?"

That question seemed like a bullet penetrating his wall of furtiveness, just like he thought what his Human could see through, anyway; he gave a pleased snort.

"…ohh…you gave him the-warning because of me..?!" his Human said still with conversational tone, "I could defend my self, Beast; you don't have to hide someone's grudge against me and divert it towards you just to protect me. I'd feel bad if someone has bad thoughts about you, because I want to keep my good thoughts over you….you know?"

He thought his Human would have the simple and pleasant answer for intricate matters, and a long and effortful answer for guileless matters; that was one of his Human's complexities that fascinated him since the beginning; it gave him hard experiences a few times, but his Human could always find him a beautiful feeling that was long forgotten inside him afterwards.

The Beast snickered once, a frisky smirk bloomed on his face; "Why do you think that all of things should be about you..?" He felt his Human's eyes sideglanced on him with sharp edge. "I'm protecting him from your Wrath…!" –_the fox should know better than to be prejudice over an explosive Spell-user; that said meant both the user and the SPELLs were explosive_, his mind playfully added the fact.

His Human's lips turned downward with an ill-face and accusatory stare; it seemed that his mind got what the Beast's mind thought of, too. The Beast chuckled to himself, and butted his head to his Human's gently to apologies for his cruel joke; truth was he didn't want to really give his Human the idea that he in fact could just blast things off when he feels a little bad over things, but he couldn't ignore the temptation to say it. "We'll part from them this afternoon; I want you to get rested…."

The violet orbs widened a little and brightened, "Eh..? I thought we will be with them until the next civilization…?!" but he knew that his eyes spoke for him that he actually liked that idea; he diverted his face from the Beast with a little flush on his white cheeks. A strong arm encircled his black-cloth covered shoulder from behind; "…so you don't have to push yourself with strangers anymore, okay…?"

But his shoulders sagged a little; it was as if his Beast wanted to hide him from people's eyes, was he a shameful being to be with…?

The hand that encircled his shoulders tightened its embrace and came to his forehead and stroked it with its palm affectionately; "I don't want you to get ideas from other people right now…!"

"Hmm…" he mumbled his downheartedness childishly, "…is it about full-moon things…?"

The childish tone made the Beast's face irritated about something else, "ESPECIALLY full moon…!!" he grinned to show his sharp teeth to no one in particular.

"Ohh…" his Human seemed like he thought of something and tried to guess from his naïve POV; "…is it about your beast-pride that he was in heat during full moon and you didn't..?" He actually heard something snapped in the Beast's mind.

"I'll bite his head off..!!" the Beast said flatly that sounded like a curse-conjuring voice instead of his real voice; -_for the fact that the fox did imply some IDEAS to his Human..!_

His Human laughed pleasantly, somehow he took it as another playful joke; the Beast furrowed his brows, at least his Human didn't get some follow ups about those ideas…he'd be in big trouble if his Human do that sort of things right now; or ever. Suddenly he felt a little shift in the air's flow, and there heard an abrupt yell of a human-boy and a donkey's frightened bray from somewhere not too far up front, a splash of sand-tide exploded higher than the caravan's roof level; without thinking, he let his reflex and his instincts took control and jumped high forward; assessing the view while he was in the air and took a hooked-rope looped on the side wall of the nearest caravan near the source of the sand-tide.

He threw the hook that formed of three partitions and could grip like a claw when the rope was pulled tight to the yelling human-boy and frightened donkey's direction already lost from sight by the rained sands; when his instinct told him that he got the charge, he pulled. The sands at the side of the caravan started to slide down a hollow circle under the spot where there was the sand-tide before.

"Rice, a sand-spider's trap-hole..!!" he heard a female yelled somewhere behind the caravan he was on; feeling the cart started to tilt sideway, he jumped to the sand, even realizing that a trap-hole like that usually could spread to such perimeter that even the caravan now reclining to his back would be sucked in. He gritted his teeth, kicking his sand-ground that continuously cascaded into the pit now open wide near his spot; the human-boy and his donkey-ride were dangling below the sand level in the pit, while the caravan using his back as a foothold fell heavy on his body as the wheel on its side no longer had its ground, it wasn't that hard for his beast-strength but what made the situation worse was that the sands under his feet endlessly rolled towards the pit.

A blur of metallic-blue caught his eyes for a sheer moment, Rice landed on the tight rope very close in front of him, the ends of his long shawl wrapped around his lithe hips caressed his face as if intentionally. The Beast stared for a fraction of second; then, Rice ran on the tight rope serving as a narrow bridge to the dangling boy who was hugging his donkey's neck flat to his body.

The fox found that the claw-hook caught the ring on the donkey's chest that was used to tie the saddle-straps and such, he smirked to himself; got to praise that Beast for damn-accuracy…! His mind mocked before he grabbed the boy's waistband and threw his body to his own back and let him cling to his shoulders with his own hands.

"…--my riiide.." the boy tried to whine and coughed by the sand that managed to get inside his mouth. The fox snorted once and pulled the rope's end near the hook with enough force, the donkey was kicking and braying when its body half out of the sand level but the lack of the rope tension made the fox had to step on the rolling sand as well; knowing he wouldn't make it without a steady ground he yelled; "…PULL..!!" and at the sudden tug he jumped backward and widened his eyes as he was literally flying in the air with his charges; he could hear the people's awe as he grabbed the donkey's belly and made a back-flip before landing behind the tilting caravan.

Rice tsk-ed once while he lowered the donkey from his arm and knowing that this was his turn to pull the rope; the Beast had looped the rope to his right arm while it got free from the tension when the fox was in the air, now he grabbed the caravan's wheel at his back and back-pedaling using the rope Rice pulled as leverage. "..Whoa..!" the girl who was steering the caravan exclaimed as the cart slid horizontally opposite the cascading sand's way; she was currently on the back of the beast pulling the caravan trying to calm it and stood its ground.

Not long the caravan was out of the danger, the other caravans and people on their rides were at a safe distance from the area. The troupe halted knowing that they had encountered the sand-spider's hunting zone; they shared tasks using body language because the sand-spiders might still be under the holes and could seize the creature making the simplest sound on the sand near their trap-holes.

"…good work.." his Human mouthed to him when he landed on his previous spot on the caravan roof; he tried to focus his mind to him and pretending to not realize the stare the fox gave him while he guarded the boy's back on his donkey, who was trying to calm it down from its fright. The heated grudge had dissipated a little from the fox's eyes, but he was frowning with an unreadable expression.

…_not enough_.., the sand-spiders might be already alerted by that little slip; _the danger was only being awakened now_….. The Beast thought with a small frown; if the troupe people still in this kind of situation than he might consider his decision to leave them this afternoon. Another shift in the air made him jerked his head to his Human's direction; he was closing his eyes with a serene face, his lips were pursed forward as if kissing out a prayer with little quirks of a smile at the ends. The Beast widened his eyes, he knew what his Human was doing, and doing something like that in the presence of strangers, not to mention that Aku-guy, was really something he wanted to avoid.

A cool hand touched his right cheek and he opened his eyes finding a pair of very disturbed prussian orbs burned on his. "..what? You said you wanted to leave these people this afternoon, right? You might reconsider that decision if we're stuck here in the open danger, right..?" he mouthed with two bright innocent eyes. His Beast looked defeated by that reasoning; somehow he got the impression that he got it reverse but he couldn't take it back now, so he touched the Beast's downcast head and played with his soft unruly hair for a few strokes; "……I got it reverse, didn't I….?" which wasn't really a question since he seemed that he already realized his mistake of view.

Poking the Beast's downcast head twice with his forefinger, he mouthed with an innocent pout, "…I can't take it back, they're already here…!"

A cool wave of breeze blew the Beast from the back of the caravans line, that made him straightened his head a little, the breeze was light and full of affection, and transparent in awareness. Common people might not realized it that it was not the usual wind, but beasts, even the common beasts such as rides and wild beasts in the free nature could easily recognized that they were actually the Fairs of air, rushing gently and cleared a save path for them on the sand.

The sudden cool wind made the people paused for a while, savoring a little drip of heaven in the scorching desert air; when they moved again to their tasks, whatever it was they were set to do before, they stared with wide eyes at the path spread in front of the caravan line after the wind gone. As usual the troupe people were easy to adapt to things, and they didn't waste time to put that phenomenon to good use. After thinking that they were already in a safe distance from the sand-spider's hunting zone, the people started to mumble out their questions about what was happening, but as easy as accepting it they were soon forget about it.

"…people out here don't usually call out to Fairs for help, do they…..?" he mumbled very silently to his Beast at his side who was silent all the while after the wind passed, it might be the very reason why the Beast had wanted them to depart as soon as they could. The Beast side glanced at his face; he thought he might look all guilty and troubled because that was what he felt, that's why he didn't dare to look at the Beast's face. He felt the Beast snorted once softly, and hooked his right arm to his veiled head and brought it to rest at the side of his own head; that made him felt secured and he let go the troubled feelings he had, chuckled slowly, and before he realized it he was fast asleep in that position on the roof of their caravan.

The fox's furry ears twitched as he rode on the donkey behind Clay's back; his hands were holding the rein, but he was actually having a stare-sparing with the Beast on the roof of the caravan at their side.

---------------

_The rainfall washed the pooling blood away, the redden liquid sipped through between the rocks like small rivers intermingled into one web trying to hide from any witness that might accuse it of fleeing the battlefield; a staggering boy tried to be on his buckling feet in the center of fallen bodies and scattered weapons. The rain washed the blood from his face, he was a little unfocused but a touch of relief slowly colored his deathly expression._

…_it's done……. His disoriented eyes said._

…_it's done…!_

_The boy tried to move his leg, his lower feet felt like frozen steel keeping him attached to the cold rocky grounds. His breath was foggy and his body started to shake after the heat of the fight dissipated from it and exhaustion downed like an unmerciful punishment. An image of a familiar cross-shaped blades entered his mind, he often wondered how that weapon would be used, how the user would use it; imagining what kind of agility and graciousness He would use it with, a burning purple eye that leave bright lines of afterimage from his every moves. _

_He didn't remember that he could laugh like he was now; he didn't even remember when he started to laugh; a wet gurgle choked his laughter from his insides, he coughed up blood and stopped his delirious laugh._

_The small bloody figure tumbled forward, the piling bodies cushioned his fall; nevertheless, the sharp objects buried by those bodies managed to give him new cuts on his hands and arms; a sword blocked his sight as it stood froze upright, it barely missed his face, protruding from its owner's back. He tried to control his wet choked breaths; a lone tear escaped his left eye unbidden, he could see it in the reflection of his eyes on the sword blade as the rain washed the blood from that cold shiny metal. Hanging on to his consciousness that rapidly slipping away, he thought he felt that the air filled with suffocating presence again, pressing his form into a trembling mass._

…_No..! Could there be another wave of attackers..?_

_His body shook violently, by fear and desperation and exhaustion; he couldn't even move a single leg to walk; surely he couldn't handle anymore assailants._

…_.Please don't…! _

_He begged the world to stop oppressing him; not right now…he couldn't fight anymore._

_Please…. No more…!_

…_no more strength…_

…_.please…_

_No more will……_

_The siege closing in on him, he felt it in the rain, barricading the winds that blew a shiver down his body. He didn't dare to lift his face. The sounds of someone approaching between the crunched bodies, the cold feeling of someone near him…_

_A cold soft hand reached out to his head; "…Boy, are you alright….?" The girl's voice was soft and not accusing…._

He opened his eyes finding his Beast's face close above his, "You alright..?" he whispered softly. A wet cloth dabbed on his forehead repeatedly, it smelled like his Beast's hair; he blinked.

"..'Seemed like you were having a nightmare…!" his Beast informed him without needing to be asked.

Still floating in the dream's atmosphere, he reached out to his Beast's head and gently pulled a lock of his unruly bangs. "…your hair-color looked darker in the rain….." he mumbled distractedly. His Beast stopped wiping his forehead for a while; "…what..?"

The open-stare prussian eyes on his felt overwhelming for a second, he averted his eyes with a light flush on his face. "…Nothing! Just something I thought I saw in a dream…!"

The Beast seemed like he was a little more curious with only that reasoning, but he didn't prod into it. After staring him for some time, he finally said, "We're leaving these people now; they gave us some spare clothes and food. I've already asked permission to part to the Old Lady, but I thought you might want to say your farewell to the others first…"

That made him froze, either his long words of explanation, or just the sudden shift from the dream's atmosphere to the reality; "Now…?"

The Beast nodded once.

"Oh..!" he sat up and barely aware of his surrounding, that he was already in the caravan again, tidying up his bangs and pulled his hands to the back of his head he noticed that his loose braid had been redone in a neat plait. Looking down he saw a comb near the bowl of water where his Beast dipped the cloth in. So, his Beast already fixed everything for him when he said 'now' and that means he just needed to depart; a smile bloomed on his lips and he felt like he wanted to steal a peck on his Beast's nose, and did it.

He chuckled as the Beast blinked with an odd stare and a crease between his brows. The reality was like a heaven to the dreams he'd seen, and he wanted to cherish it the more.

---------------

The troupe took a stop at the edge of a cliff side before they cross the natural earth-bridge to the other side. They took the time to say farewell to the Old Lady and other leading people of the troupe in her makeshift tent, which all the time he felt like fleeing immediately. The Old Lady seemed to feel his discomfort with other people around and just dismissed them after giving him an elderly pat on his brunette head. He gave her a smile then, awkward but sincere; the Old Lady chuckled to that.

He didn't see Rice in the tent, nor that strange Aku-guy. His Beast took the lead and giving a final nod he took his hand and just walk away from the parked caravans, walking along the cliff and down to a narrow earth-stairs definitely carved by someone as a path down.

The opening in the ground was not that wide, but it was vertically steep and deep. The afternoon sun gave a thicker hues in the air; and either it was intentionally or not, the cliff's wall gave them a shade from the sunlight, even though it wasn't that scorching anymore.

They walked hand in hand, his Beast in the front making sure that the grounds they step on were safe. The made-stairs were broken at some parts, they had to jump on the crumbling one-man-path carefully; somehow he felt like it was a game, his mind registered a feeling of safety that if he ever fall down something down there wouldn't let him get hurt.

About one-fourth way down to the base surface he looked up to the cliffs' edges, mesmerized by the plays of colorful lights in striation beams.

"Beast…, look..!" he nudged at the Beast's sleeve. The Beast looked up, "The oblique sunlight refracted by the small grains of minerals in the sands above the cliff…" he commented cursorily and started to walk again, pulling him along.

"Kind of like the Stratus's displays…But I like this one more, felt more honest..!" he said conversely and started to chat about multiple things, of which the Beast only commented with something like 'aa' or 'hm'. Once they could be alone together again they fell to their usual pace back, and it felt right.

The walls of the cliffs at the base were layer-colored with many hues, his mind pointed at something. "Beast, …this was a river, right..?" he asked as they stepped down the last stair to the base ground.

"…sometimes.." the Beast answered without so much interest; perhaps for him this kind of natural forms were so trivial, but when you see only white-this and white-that all your life, such simple marbles or tufas felt precious to your eyes. A blowing wind carried the fragrant smell along the dry river; he turned his head looking back from one shoulder, they were walking opposite the direction of the blowing wind, but it felt like the wind welcoming him. Somehow he thought he knew the scent even though he couldn't remember what it was. The Beast seemed like he knew something had taken his concentration as his hand turned slack in the Beast's hand, he gripped it tighter and tugged him along whenever his steps started faltering, but all the time he didn't say anything.

The air already turned cooler to his skin as the sky seen from the gap of the cliffs turned a darker hues of deep red and purple tinged. He noticed that along the base of the cliffs' walls were randomly found wholes, like crumbled entrances of caves; if he closed his eyes he thought he could hear whispers calling out.

=….beloved Leader..=

=….ours…=

=…….darkened heart…..=

=…our beloved….=

=….loneliest..=

=…our darkened-heart…..=

=…truest….=

=…Leader…..=

"….can you hear them..?" a little in trance he asked in a silent voice, he felt his Beast's eyes side glanced on him, then glanced forward again. "It's some leftovers of the consciousness once in the darkened places…where the owners used to hide. Some strong-sensed people could hear them; some people said that it could make travelers crazy if they succumb to their voices…."

His Beast sounded a little subdued, it didn't show but he could felt it in his air.

"…You're lonely…!"

That wasn't a question.

His Beast's steps faltered to a slow stop, he looked down to his feet, a gush of little breeze blew a cloud of dust between them. A small ironic smile curved the ends of his lips. "….I once thought that…" he started in a very silent whisper, "….those voices….'them'… were welcoming me. That I belonged there…"

"It's stupid, really..!" his Beast pulled him to walk again in a faster pace, as if he wanted to run away from his memory but restraint his desire to actually run because his Human's hand was in his and he didn't want to drag him along.

"….you had no one to listen to.." his Human whispered behind his back, "But don't you think…for just a little….that they'd feel a little grateful that they kept their existence…..as poor as they are….so that their voices could reach someone..?" he tightened his grip on his Beast's hand.

"…someone like me..?" the Beast's voice was so small.

His Human chuckled gratefully, "Because others would abhor them instead, would they?"

"I think they felt grateful that you took them as companies; or didn't you….?" He fastened his steps a couple just to get alongside his Beast, looking at his eyes clouded a little. His Beast's lips thinned, but his eyes turned a little brighter."…they're better then most others. They don't tell lies…!" he lifted his shoulder.

"You lived here once..?" his Human seemed to catch that he already in a safe atmosphere to talk about it in a lighter manner, looked around as he found the dry river could really be a cozy place to live, if you don't mind with adequate simplicity.

"This river is flooded for half a year, you couldn't really live down here..!!" his Beast seemed to understand his thought and fast correcting his curiosity.

The purple orbs burned on him with wide inquiring stare then; he snorted in a smile, "…not here. Some place like this, maybe, I don't remember exactly where and when; perhaps it's been lives passed..!"

His Human silenced for several long minutes; but their steps didn't falter. "…they whispered the same things then…?" at the Beast's nod he continued, "Who they're calling out to..?"

"They said it's their Leader, didn't they?"

"Were they…soldiers..?" his Human's eyes trailed down along the wall base, registering the many layers of dirt and rocks burying 'them' under the earth as something as not trivial anymore, his purple eyes flashed with warning.

He felt it as his Human's grip suddenly turned groggy and he instinctively pressed his body to his. "….hey, Beast….Don't you think.. that maybe, if you look closely at those caves…..that maybe, 'they' are actually digging their way out of their burials…?!"

That brought a smile to his lips, "Why do you think that?"

His Human answered with alertness contorted his beautiful face, "…well, because…'they' are ghosts, right…?!"

"They might be a little different then the Fairs, that's all. What are you afraid of..?"

"Fairs are not frightful..!" his Beast's calmness made him a little hot with his reasoning, truth was some Fairs could do more than look menacing if triggered.

"Hmm, how about Spells, then?" the Beast pointed out.

"Tell me 'they' wouldn't attack at random and you don't have to tame them just to get away from here…?!" that was half a question. His Beast laughed outright at his unreasonable fear, "…'they' are okay, 'they' won't hurt you..!"

"…at you?!" he kept a stubborn face.

His Beast wound the hand that was holding his to his neck, "…it actually feels safe down here, right? Don't worry so much, I'm with you..!" the encircled hand stroked his head at front several times, like calming a little child, keeping his smaller body as close as it could to his own body; the Beast did that often, he realized, a little part of his mind wondered whether the Beast actually treated him as a child or just being touch-possessive.

They silenced for a long pause, when the Beast thought that he already dropped the subject his Human spoke in a very silent whisper, tinged with embarrassment. "…perhaps….I'm just jealous that you were with 'them'….long before you met me….", but it was an honest admission, so he smiled.

The dry river turned at some parts, just like the rivers would flow naturally, like a giant snake body. It was already dark when they could see the end of the channel, blockaded by rocks like a giant beaver's dam, behind it there could be seen the canopy of a small forest, the tops of high trees jutted randomly. The winds brought the smell of water and greeneries, there was a familiar scent of fragrant weeds known in Archantra; he widened his eyes with excitement, "That's our stop, right?! Our stop..?!" he bounced while walking, pulling his Beast's hand to get to the forest sooner. The Beast chuckled at his merriness; it made him remember his Human's _former-self_, but being mean or over-calm as he was he didn't give in to his Human's urge encouraging him to walk faster. They'd get there sooner or later, his mind reasoned.

The climb to get pass the dam wasn't as difficult as it would for other people, the Beast could almost fly when he jumped as he wasn't an earthbound; his Human, despite his delicate feature, had the agility and graciousness that could rival his Beast's. When they got to the top of the dam, he stared with shining eyes at the scenery laid in front of them; the little forest was actually circling a lake, with high towers of rocks stood at the lake's edge as if guarding it; the full moon was shining brightly in the sky, as it was still the second full moon night, it was reflected on the water's calm surface like a dark mirror. There could be heard various sounds of birds; the bright round moon made the air almost like a liquid clarity where he could clearly see the uncountable flocks of birds and flying small beasts that were using the lake as their transit. The forest hid the presence of small animals perfectly but their sounds added to the lively choir of the birds. He voiced his amazement long and blissfully.

"…hey, why we couldn't hear them back there..?!" his Human asked while jumping up and down excitedly on the top rocks; the Beast mind pointed out that he could hear those animals sounds just as perfectly, while another part of his mind pointed out that the rocks where his Human jumping on were not very stable.

"The wind's coming from behind us..!" he answered distractedly pulling his Human's hand to his side, his ears registering the little sounds of crumbling pile down there.

"So, when it's monsoon the lake will be welling up and flow into this channel, right..?" his Human let the Beast pulled him to the cliff side where bigger rocks piled.

"Yes.."

"You know, this dam looks almost like a man-made structure rather than anything…" he tried to restrain his excitement and distracted his mind with conversation.

"It is, but not man-made..!" the Beast slid on a relatively flat long rock, pulling his hand along.

The rock's structure made it that if the cliff ever fractured broken that it would formed like an uneven-sided long column, he imagined that someone or something huge clawed the cliff sides to get the materials needed for building the dam. "You know the thing made this..?" he complied when his Beast circled his hand behind his waist, holding on to the Beast's taller shoulders without too much thinking; then suddenly the Beast jumped without warning, embracing both his knees while in the air, held them to his chest.

He widened his eyes when his mind registered what his Beast was doing, the fall to the other side of the dam's base wasn't that long, but as he was overwhelmed by the closeness of the Beast's face to his, he actually felt that it was a very long fall. The Beast landed lightly on the rocky ground, he didn't put his Human down at once, but looked for more steady ground for his human to walk on as there were large crescent-shaped deep holes in the dirt ground, apparently made as water sockets before the over abundant of water would make it flow into the channel through the dam, judging that the dam structure had many holes that would make it work more as water-gate rather than a blockade.

"…I can do that by myself..!" he said evenly when his Beast put his feet down.

"I know..!" his Beast said evenly as well without looking at his large eyes burning the image of his face in his violet eyes. The crescent-shaped water sockets climbed up like stairs to the lake's level, there was a dry watercourse which connected the lake and the dry river, but the lake's water surface was lower than the grounds of the forest around it at this season.

The Beast then left him near the dry watercourse, saying that he's going to check the area first before deciding where to camp. Since he was alone without much to do, he decided that he'd just sit around on some upright rock and enjoy the scenery around him; the darkness of the night was preferable for his eyes. Not long, the sound of trickling water near his sitting place piqued his interest; his eyes search the vicinity and soon found the steady small streams of water between the rocks, flowing into the water sockets, filling them slowly.

He hopped down from the upright rock and walked to the small streams, taking off his boots on the way and savored the cool water easing his tired feet, not minding his legging and the end of his riding dress getting wet; they're not as clean as they were at first, being exposed to dusts and dirt along his way, he thought he might as well get changed and wash them. While thinking that, his mind said that a cool bath would do to loosen his tight muscles as well, since the desert night air wasn't as cold as what he'd heard from others once he experienced it by himself; winter in Archantra with its sudden frozen climate was more alerting.

He looked around, finding no one in sight besides some curious small animals watching him with their shining eyes from some bushes and trees. The change of clothes given by the troupe was in the bag carried by his Beast, so he thought he might just try to get some change from his sanctuary, he never try it since he woke up on his end since the sanctuary was on _Deia_'s end; it would feel like rummaging someone's private room. Because as cliché as it sounded, a person named Deia was once living in _her_ own universe of that sanctuary.

He scratched the back of his head; he didn't really know why but the thought of _her_ made him down. Wasn't it because it felt like he'd robbed _her_ life from _her_…? _Her_ world and _her_ loved-ones as well…

No; he decided, rummaging Deia's end of the sanctuary would feel like trespassing sister's private room, so he thought he'd just try to get to the sanctuary from his end; later, when he felt stable enough to connect a secure link to his small other-universe he used as his sanctuary. Right at that time, he felt the presence of human beings nearing his area.

Then heard the familiar question of "…are you lost, Miss…?!" from behind the rocks behind him.

This time he found it funny, "…aahahahahaa…!" he laughed while turning his upper body a little, just to show his identity, while his face looking back from his side to the people behind the rocks.

"Wha-ck..!!" the recognized scout-men almost fell from their standing ground, one of them instantly grabbed his sword by the back of his waist and turned around bracing himself for a certain beast, but not finding one.

"What are you doing here? You're not with the troupe..?" he asked with ease enjoying the surprise of those men, their alertness meant that he's still in the safe distant with them, that they still have the fear of his Beast concerning his possessiveness over him.

"…uhh…. You too, what are you doing here..?" the man with black spectacles turned to him again, still a little caught by the surprise; his friend slouched his back and shoulders, leaning on a vertical rock as he realized he wouldn't loose his head yet by a certain beast –since it was a clear first-and-last warning he'd get the first time.

"We parted ways, the troupe went that way..!" he pointed up to the desert upon the cliff.

"Oh, right. Where are you heading..?" the black spectacled man asked again.

He lifted his shoulders, "I don't know; how about you?"

The men cleared their throat in unison, "Haaha.. we're..-"

"They're like us, joining the troupe until they reach a certain place to head their original way..!" the Beast's voice cut evenly from the dark shade of a tree above the men; that made them jump.

"You're joining your pack here?" the Beast asked again from behind his black-cover of his half face, once he's down near the gaping men; like he'd said before, those men smelled different than the rest of the troupe members.

"P..pack??" seemed like the term wasn't too familiar with them.

"He meant group..!" he said welcoming his Beast with wet hands, wiping his face with them a little playfully then wiped it dry with his black-cloth around his shoulders; happy that his Beast didn't mind it even though he did it in front of strangers.

"That's your pack at the other side of the lake?"

"Yes..!" the man answered a little stunned. "Oh, ..why don't you join us?"

"I'll take that invitation." The Beast said levelly without so much of a thought; that made his Human turned his face to him, feeling a little odd but didn't voice it.

The Beast bent down, wiping his Human's bare feet from the shallow water with his cloak; then put his boots back on.

He watched his Beast's head from his higher view for a few seconds then glanced at the men, he grinned at them watching the procession, they grinned back at him a little awkwardly.

The group had set up tents and fires, it seemed that they were all men; they looked like they were busy with their tasks, but they froze at the same time as both of them came into view. The two scout-men behind them grinning awkwardly, looking like they were ready to get scolded by their group leader.

As the men seized their activities and stood up, hearing the sudden silence outside, a big man came out from the biggest tent; he halted while still holding the tent flap, there was a flash of recognition and alarm in his eyes as he saw the Beast stood at the outer-side of the camping area. That alerted him and made him get closer to his Beast's back; he side glanced noticing his Beast stared the man levelly.

"…Rashid, who is it..?" A boy's voice he'd heard somewhere before asked from inside the tent, the man resumed his walk out of the tent, followed by a stoic tall boy who was helping a smaller blond boy to walk.

The blond boy had various bandage-wraps on his visible body parts, his left arm were heavily bandaged and hung with a cloth around his neck; he was walking by dragging one of his feet too and looking like he wouldn't be able to stand by himself. But without so much familiarization he smiled brightly, welcoming them into his camp-circle. "Whaaa..! Welcome, welcome! Please feel free to join us..!"

The tall boy at his side nodded once at his Beast, the Beast answered with a nod as well then stared at the big man who was seemingly the group leader, the man stared back for some time with unreadable eyes; then he nodded to his men as they were waiting for his cue. And that's how he found himself, despite feeling the safety of his Beast's presence with him, being in an odd situation that night…

---------------

The fire burned with loud prickling sounds; that's what he'd use to describe the atmosphere, too: prickling..!

They were all sitting around the fire, except for some men taking their guards around the campsite, having hot beverage and stew for dinner; after dinner they somehow got engaged in the after-dinner-conversation such travelers usually had around the fire, although his Beast hadn't utter a sound since they got there, and he didn't get even one-fourth of the conversation; but somehow the blond boy, the kind host as he was, could relate them into the conversation so as to make them didn't feel left out.

But truth was….the big man, who felt like a teeth-baring bear with two scimitars in its hands, seemingly familiar with his Beast but didn't show it, pretended that he was only taking a part of that traveler's rite but truly he was taking a watch on his Beast; while the tall boy, Trowa was his name as the blond boy introduced him again just as he'd introduced him to _Deia_ in Viricidia, seemingly recognized his Beast as another inhuman-creature, something like Wild-brotherhood or something; they didn't seem like they were going to convolute with each other just like his Beast did with the Lord Marquisse's beast back then, so he thought it's alright.

Now about that blond angelic boy introducing himself as Q -again-, he seemed like he was welcoming someone in his good nature, like he would welcome anyone who happened to be in the same way with him just as the same; but really he actually -somehow- knew they were going to meet in their ways, as if he was actually waiting that meeting, but he didn't show it in the outside and just taking the part of a naïve cheerful host instead. The other men followed the lead of their group leader, and Q –as everybody could notice that he was their master, not leader-, pretending that they didn't realize the people's thoughts and dispositions, and taking part as cheerful travelers.

What to be taken into notice was the presence of another boy about their age, his traits almost like his Beast's but with raven-colored hair tied tightly behind his nape; he had a mighty atmosphere, almost hungry if you could say, and his slanted sharp eyes seemed like he wanted to swallow him in one bite; and he was having a presence-fight with his Beast out of people knowing. Well, perhaps that Trowa knew it….

Just to sum it up…it was an odd prickling night…!

He stifled a sigh, sipped his mug of hot beverage; groaned in his mug, "…it bites..!" he commented to himself.

"The ale must be strange-tasted for someone who's not used to it..!" a man sitting near him who apparently heard his words said with a wide smile. "Do you want some lighter drink, instead?"

He smiled back, "No, thank you; I'll just have to get used to it soon if I want to be out here…!" he really meant about the prickling atmosphere, but he intentionally sorted his words so it could be taken as the answer to the question. Some eyes stared at him as they got the under-meaning of his sentence, he didn't see them and just set his eyes on the dancing fire, his Beast did counter those stares as he could feel his Beast's air since he was sitting behind his back on the fallen bough seemingly making his back warm with his front –like a possessive Beast would do for his Human- but truth was he was literally guarding his back from others.

He made a humming sound to disguise his groan; this was more tiring than walking in the open scorching desert, his mind complained. He almost called out to some Fairs to make some rain so that the people would stop this prickling conversation and take shelter into the tents… but he restraint himself as he remembered his Beast's concern when he called out for the wind-Fairs to clear a safe path on the sands that day.

After that, either the big man couldn't hold his fangs in anymore or he just took pity of his uneasiness and just stop beating the bushes, he asked with his grumbly voice but still tried with a conversational tone; "So,…where are you heading now, Master Archant..?" then he smoothed it by sipping his mug.

The other men's conversation died down, they heard their leader pressed the word Archant intentionally; and even though they introduced themselves as 'Duo(Human)' and 'Heero(Beast)', the big man skipped the names as if he accused that those were not their real names. As all eyes immediately stared at him –being the only Archant and the fact that he couldn't hide his traits from other's eyes- he averted his eyes and stared back at the big man openly. He took his time calmly letting the big man reading him; then he answered with a small smile, "I don't know, I had never been out of the Land all my life..!"

He turned to watch the dancing fire again, "…my Beast thought he'd just show me around to see things..!"

"When are you planning to go back to your homeland?"

He chuckled lightly, "I didn't make any plan, sir..!" and followed the example from the big man, sipping his mug even though he grimaced at the aftertaste after swallowing the ale; it's different than the troupe's brew, stronger and almost thick with foreign seasonings.

"Archantra is no more..!" the big man began; he paused to see the reaction on his face, "The explosion could be heard by neighboring countries that night..!". As suspected, his surprise was shown clearly on his face; not that he tried hiding it that much, though. The big man asked again as he saw the Archant's face turned to him with a wide inquiring stare, as if urging him to continue; he couldn't read too much from that stare, except that the Archant was so clear to read without much to be read from him; he made a mental note of that fact in his mind.

"If you don't aware of that, you must either be far away from the land or was unconscious at the time..?" and the big man still make it sounded like a question, his men thought with a sweatdrop.

"….you heard the explosion..?" the Archant asked slowly, genuinely asking.

"Yes... with the bright light as well, reaching out to the night sky as if trying to tear the darkness apart. For a moment I thought it was a volcano erupting..!"

"…hmmm…really.." he mumbled, stared back at the fire, a little ingested by the thoughts flashing in his mind as his eyes looked distanced. "What color was the light..?"

"…white!"

He chuckled silently, "…always white..!" he sounded like he was almost complaining; the people knew he was drowned in his thought as he was sipping the mug without grimacing for several times. "I didn't know that…!" he added silently as if to himself.

The big man opened his mouth again but Q fast beat him trying to divert the depressing conversation, "Where's Lady Deia, Yuy..?" he asked with his usual kind smile, stating clearly his Beast's name; that got his attention back to the present, he stared widely at the blond boy while sipping his mug.

"Dead" his Beast answered in a low voice; whatever the big man wanted to ask died in his throat, he clamped his mouth with a click sound.

Q's pale face turned whiter almost matching an Archant's complexion as he widened his eyes; he swallowed once, "….I'm sorry..!" he then said slowly.

That piqued his interest, really; "Why? You don't know her..!" he asked straightforwardly, ignoring the men's eyes fell on him with unbelievable stares, it should be the appropriate manner to say that in hearing the news of the loss of someone; but he really curious as to why people would feel sorry for the loss of someone they only knew in a one-worded news.

Q was taken aback by his honest question, he tried to say something a couple of time, when he found his voice back there was a flash of admission in his blue eyes; "…I…met her in Viricidia..!". His men glanced at their Master, than stared at the Archant back; they realized somehow the pretencious conversation had turned from trying to cross-examining the Archant now was making their side to confess, instead. When did that happen?

"You're friends..?" the Archant turned to his Beast's face behind him, higher by the rocks he was using as a seat behind the bough; the Beast's legs was bent at either sides of his small frame, as if made as the makeshift armchairs for his Human's arms to rest. The Beast didn't answer, but his silence seemed like a form of answer to the Archant as he looked back at the blond boy with bright eyes, "Oh.." he mumbled; "Well, if Deia said you're okay, then you're okay..!" he said with a pleasant smile with a hand stroking the Beast's knee at his side.

His smiling face made Q flushed a little, "ummm…we exchanged our names; Lady Deia was complaining about some human-politicians she couldn't blast to someplace fitting that day…!", after that admission Q seemed to find his calmness back and soon put his smiling face on.

The Archant laughed childishly, "…that's her alright..!" he said satisfactorily, staring the content of his mug which seemed like it didn't lessen the slightest.

Q stared him for some time, he was going to ask 'what happen' but it sounded too straightforward, so he changed the words, he was educated as a politician himself, his mind reminded. "You look so much like her, are you twins…?" –besides the hair color, of course; but he didn't say it.

"I don't know, I never asked her..!" that sounded like an honest answer, but with sarcastic words to some people; "We never met in person.." he smiled to the blond boy through his mug, which only earned him a blink.

"What happened..?" Q asked reflexively, his men sweatdropped knowing their Master's tendency to act polite and almost never asked that somewhat prodding-question.

"What happened?" he turned his head up to his Beast's face again, leaning comfortably with both hands rested on his knees; "Hmm…_Deia_ was running all around the castle, calling out…then _she_ met someone….something was breaking apart, beautiful as a smile…..then I woke up alone; Beast, here, found me…and _Deia_ was nowhere…!" he paused as if thinking more to say, but then nodded to end it; "…that's from my end. What's yours..?"

The Archant's tone was light and almost childish, as if he was not minding his Beast's feelings; it made the others got alerted, Q almost say something to take back his question. The Beast's scowling eyes clouded, he never really asked his Human what was it like from his end, he was aware that his Human took his _former-self_ as another person; or else, he wouldn't survive the captivity the Land had kept him in for his whole life. The dark gloved hands encircled his Human's lithe neck in loose embrace, but the black-cloth around his shoulders made it seem not so loose, and the blanket the travelers gave him made his body like it was trapped in a cocoon. The Archant chuckled as if he felt what his Beast doing was endearing, offered his mug with a content smile.

The Beast's furrowing brows twitched deeper once, the Archant's smile gone into a pout instantly; "Oh, right. You barely eat; you barely drink; saying that you're keeping them for me…" he turned his face to the mug in his hands, his eyes were drooped coldly. "Do you miss _her_ that much, I wonder…!"

The last part said made the Beast's eyes flashed with something; Q jerked visibly, his men sweatdropped with alert, reflexively they reminded themselves that they had their weapons hung by their waists; something's wrong with this Archant-Beast couple..! The Beast took the mug and while he brought it to his mouth the black-cover on his half-face melted down forming a mock turtleneck; he took a swig fast and passed the mug back to his Human, pausing for some seconds before swallowing the content in his mouth. His Human turned his waist looking at him with bright inquiring-expecting eyes; the Beast froze, stared him back with flat stares; after some more seconds passed with the waiting he coughed up breathlessly once, turning his face from his Human's.

The Archant laughed pleasantly, "…it bites, right? Even your tongue..!!" he made fanning motion with his hand, trying to relief his Beast; the Beast's left brow quirked up, he looked like he was going to say something but his cough beat him to it; so he just covered his face with his hands, trying to control his rebelling throat. His Human laughed again and stood, "…Even your pride..!" he stated merrily, but covered his Beast's defeated form with his height as he embraced the brown head to his waist.

"See? My Beast is not that scary like this, right..?" he said cheerfully to the big man sitting to his right, "I love your ale..!". Rashid only blinked.

Still breathless with silent revolting throat, the Beast whispered "…korosu…!"

That brought another merry laughter from the Archant, "He even threatens to kill me…!!", but his hand stroked the Beast's back trying to lessen his coughs, even though it's futile; seeing so, the Archant handed the mug to the man at his left and rubbed his Beast's back with both hands. "…it's not going to kill you, ne…?"

"What's in the ale, anyway?" he asked to everyone in particular.

"Saffron..! –and other ingredients.." the man holding his mug said a little bewilderedly.

"Saffron oil could be used as expectorant..! Travelers in the desert mostly use it for cooking, as well; to fight against the cold desert's night air…" Q offered a much longer answer.

It made the Archant's laugh brayed out, "Is that so? Sorry, you don't eat because of that..! I'm sorry! But you could just say it so, instead of making me guessing things..! That's partly your fault, right..?!"

The Beast's answer was only another restraint cough.

The silence was beginning to get too loud, so the Archant turned his head to the big man; "He's mostly has contradiction with medicines..!"

Rashid glanced at the Beast's flushed face half hidden by the Archant's body and hands from his side, he was fighting his rebelling throat, but his eyes said it that he was doing it because he didn't want to make his Human's worried; the big man's sharp stare melted a little, whatever it was he thought of the Beast before seemed to get tamer, "…want a lighter drink..?" he offered the Beast.

-cough- "..No, there's a lake behind..!" -cough-

"You're not turning your way here just to get a drink, are you…?" the big man asked flatly with a sweatdrop.

"Ah, likely it's what people from home said about desert: if there are birds, means there is water…!" the Archant said with a grin.

"Or dead meat..!" that was said together with a grinning Q in unison; then they smiled at each other as if finding their connectible ends. The men laughed to that, and with that the atmosphere turned many layers lighter; as observed by the silent Trowa, and the hungry-looking black-haired boy with his scavenger's eyes. The Archant may looked childish, but he could control the situation and even the people's thought just as perfectly, seemingly without them realizing it.

After that the conversation turned to a more humane one, with the men freely joked around and amused their recuperating Young Master who smiled earnestly; he glanced as Trowa's observant eyes stared him with calm kindness, in the opposite with the black-haired boy's -who was titled by everyone as only 'master' without a name following- scalding poisonous stare which seemingly only directed at him, even though it was the first time he'd met the boy; perhaps like Rice's case, he had some issues with Archants? That what made his Beast at his high alert in the first place; he suspected that the Beast felt this Master's presence and spitefulness against him, and thinking that rather having to be in a hide-and-seek with them he just better take the invitation and join them and guard his back from where he could see the dangers in the open, seeing that there were many of those people and only a pair of themselves.

But as he didn't understand much of the conversation they were having about the world's news and other trivial things he'd never heard of, he soon lost interest with the people and just stared at the dancing fire. A thought popped in his mind and he remembered about the troupe's bonfire where he saw Rice danced. He tinkered as his eyes familiarized the dancing bright yellow-orange flames; then he smiled pleasantly to the fire, as if greeting someone. Q felt it as the Archant left their atmosphere, paying no attention to the world surrounding him including his Beast; he was going to say something at him to get his attention back to their presence, just as a good host, but before he managed, without warning the Archant moved on his four and put his right hand in the fire with a smile on his face.

The men yelped in surprise and bewilderment, while the Archant, childish as he was, just stared with wide eyes at the fire, loosing his smile as he felt his hand hurting. After some more long seconds he made sure he was feeling pain, he pulled his pained right hand in a wide swing; as if anticipating it, his Beast was already squatted behind him and readily snatched the hand, then put it in his cool mouth. "It bites…!!" his Human complained with a betrayed face, his eyes wetted by sheen of tears.

His Beast snorted softly, licking the hot hand and sometimes putting his slender fingers into his mouth.

"Of..of course it's hot! It's fire..!" the black spectacled man said with befuddlement.

"What were you doing..?!" another man asked reflexively.

"But…!" he complained, "It's luring me to come, right..?! Just like the bonfire with Rice's dance…? Right..?! But it's not friendly..!!" he whined at his Beast.

Q only stared with widened eyes, knowing that the Archant was really believing of it as what he'd said it. He never met a homeland-shelled Archant before, so never imagined that their thinking pattern would be so different. Of course, he never knew Archantra that well.

The Beast made a sighing snort; he stared up as his Human was kneeling before him with an almost crying face, not by the burnt pain but by what he thought of as betrayal; "…it's not alive…!" he whispered a little hoarsely by the effect of the ale before.

"What's not..?!"

"Fire doesn't have awareness..! It's not something you can befriend, it's only a form of energy, you don't have to tame it before use; you just have to light it, give it something to burn; it's just a form of energy, not a sentient being…!" his Beast said with soft tone.

"But it's dancing and inviting--…!" his Human accused stubbornly.

"The flames move constantly because of the wind, or because of the material the fire burns. Not because they're calling you; like this..?" his other gloved hand mimicking the signal of a hand used for calling someone.

His Human's face didn't seem that he accepted the reasoning; "Look, it's different outside; the rocks and grounds are not watching, the air isn't listening and thus not telling, the grasses and trees aren't moving because they're trying to reach you when they touch you…! They told you all this about the outside world, did you not understand?"

"….Why..?" his Human sounded like a hurt child.

"I assumed the Air of Archantra was a form of massive energy that it made the things in Archantra as they were. As the energy produced was overloading the barrier, it exploded…" the Beast muttered to himself.

"…that, you said, is energy, too, right…? But it's not friendly..!!" the Archant pointed the fire behind his back with his left hand, tears were ready to trail down his cheeks despite his voice sounded calmer.

The Beast was visibly let his head drop; so his Human still didn't get it…! –that almost got Q to chuckle outright.

"…okay..! If you want to try and tame it, tame it without hurting yourself..!" he compromised his reasoning.

The Archant mulled it for some seconds, "…it's not humane to tame others, you should befriend them..!" he said with a straight stare. In the background the Beast could hear Q's breath exploded in the cover of his not too damaged hand.

"Humans don't TAME fire…!" the Beast growled low; that got Q really laughed in the end.

Suddenly the Archant jumped to his feet and there was a loud sharp sound of a slap echoed by the trees and the rockery site around them; the Beast's face was reflexively turned to his left side by the blow, almost facing the Master who instinctively let his hands down bracing himself for a fight. Almost at the same time the fire burst up like an awakened pillar of writhing flames, with 'hands' clawed everywhere as if searching things to burn; the sudden bright explosion behind his standing figure made his face silhouetted in dark shade…really dark shade that was abnormal to people's eyes.

The Beast recognized that apathetic feeling devoid of emotion swallowing the atmosphere around him; but he didn't understand why his Human's dark-side suddenly exploded like that, perhaps it was the negative-feeling of being betrayed? Or was it because one negative-feeling called forth other negative-feelings that were not yet to resurface his awareness, and his Human couldn't contain them yet…?

"….Humans tame BEASTS, instead, right, Beast..? Like when that Virion Lord kissed you..?!" the low almost purring sound of his voice was alien to the people that only have met his Human there, but the Beast knew he'd somehow awakened that-side of his Human despite his effort of keeping him in his neutral state…or was it because he denied his Human's dark-side the last days since he woke up that _it_ decided to claw its way up by itself..? A little part of his mind pointed that his Human did say something like that about 'them' in the dried river's crumbled cavities that afternoon; it's almost like a premonition that he thought he should have paid more attention to his Human's words more.

There was a mocking grunt from the Master and he said a taunting comment in probably his language, but the way he said it already explained his intention it made his Human turned his face at the youngster with definitely a challenging narrowed stare. The Master seemed to take the challenge for he instantly stood; making the blanket he wore around his body fell to the tree bough he used as a seat. The Beast knew that any little provocation to his Human in his state now could cause a major destruction; though he didn't sure whether his Human could explode with the same force as the time he'd blown the Castile or not, what flashed in his mind was: what if without the Air's restraint on his power he could explode more power than that time?

Not waiting for something to happen, the Beast moved in a flash and caught the Master's neck between his saber-cuspids from behind before he could utter anything else, while his hands circled to his forward preventing any movement without really touching his body; truth was that he didn't want to cross anybody right now but he didn't want anyone to cross his Human more. He felt the Master's body stilled, not in fright but calmly; it's as if he had many more alerting experiences than having a certain beast closing his fangs –no matter how big and long those fangs were- around his neck, touching his very skin; though he seemed like he minded the cold biting breaths the Beast was exhaling behind his nape; but he got the message from the Beast perfectly: say another word and he could forget he had a neck connecting his head and torso.

The people were confounded by the sudden turn of event, especially Q who was actually in his good humor when it happened.

The Archant still stared him coldly, the writhing fire behind his figure coiled and twisted as if the flame was trying to embrace his standing figure but some invisible air preventing it to touch him; there was something akin to screeching sound coming from the struggling fire as if it actually screaming, everyone could hear it, too, that it made some of the men paled to almost white. But no one dared to move. He let out a dismissive soft snort tilting his chin up a little in a condescending way, and swung his right hand as if dismissing the fire. The writhing flame suddenly disappeared with a muted screech that it made some people jumped in their seats, in the next second it burst to life again in the same size as the normal fire before it awakened with a puffing sound that made those people gasped.

The Beast thought fast; maybe his Human was just angry at the fire who burnt his hand at first, and a little anger called out other things that had made him angry in the past..?

Staring the Master for some time more after he let his right hand down and stood with a relax almighty pose, his Human walked away to the lake's direction without letting out a sound even when the ends of his riding dress swept the tall grass. The Beast immediately released the Master's neck from between his teeth, fast rearranging his jaws and retracted the saber-cuspids and had them replaced with his usual needle-teeth in just a few seconds.

"I apologize for that, but I would rather to not having Human to have to explode in a bad term with his surrounding yet…!" he said in a soft voice that genuinely showed his remorse for his act.

The Master didn't move a fraction in his calm pose, he only side glanced at the Beast behind him to the end of his slanted eyes. "….you're an inhuman creature, too. You lower yourself that much to a human..?!" he said under his breath.

The Beast stared him oddly, "You think beasts should be higher than humans?"

The way he asked it may be interpreted in the negative way since the Master clearly showed his contempt after hearing that; turning his upper body a little, baring his also pointed sharp teeth he growled low, stating that he's a creature that didn't want to be thought of as lower than humans.

The Beast blinked levelly, "….I'm the only one of my-kind…!" he said flatly.

The Master paused his growling; "…If you have had bad terms with humans before, seeing that you are the last one of your-kind,..", and he thinned his lips in a glare hearing the Beast's continued words.

"..and you wanted to be higher than others, than you might as well try to stand on the top of the food-chain; since any other place lower than that wouldn't suffice your fervor." It may sound as a sarcastic comment or a good advice; "But I'm not a devourer….!" Though the last part added took the sting out.

The Master stared him levelly with his ever-present scowl; he then picked the blanket from the bough and covered his body with it with a wide swing of the cloth. Walking to the tent prepared for him, he said in a low voice when he passed the Beast; "…your human is not a human..!"

The people watched him left the fire with a very long silent pause; after he was out of everybody's sight, they began to live again, and started to question one another with their stares about what was really transpiring.

"…Beast..!!" a clear high-voice yelled in urgency from the direction of the lake, and as everyone's eyes turned to stare at that direction, came limping his Human almost dragging his left foot seemingly out of carefulness and not because of pain. His right hand was gripping his right-side of the riding dress to wrap something in it like the usual make-shift bag girls usually used their dresses with, while his left hand had his boots; his large eyes were a pair of clear violet-orbs with a light flush of excitement coloring his white skin.

"Something cute bit me..!!" he reported with a high spirit; but everyone could almost actually see the Beast's air dropped a few shade darker at that.

"Whaat..? It's really cute..!! See?!" the Archant said defiantly and lifted his left foot so that everyone could see the bony-thing embracing his ankle in dead loops.

And everyone yelled together in panic; "—hey, Mister, that's a carcass-snake, you know..!!" one of the men blurted in surprise.

"…'Hey, Mister'..?" the Archant repeated under his breath with a lackluster expression. The Beast dropped his head to his waiting hand supporting his forehead; "….you can't have that as a pet..!" he said almost with a ridiculous tired tone.

"Why not..?!" the Archant asked fast with a stubborn face.

"Because it bites…!"

"I can bite back..!"

"..i…it's poisonous..!!" another man exclaimed between their exchange.

"And I'm not..?!" the Archant countered fast flashing a serious face to the man; his words made the man gaped.

"It's lethally poisonous with no anti-venom to it..." Rashid tried a comment, seemingly only testing the situation.

"I can be lethal, too, if I want..!" the Archant turned to him with serious clear large eyes.

The Beast massaged his temples with his fingers, palm half-covering his face; "…it could bite people--…!"

"I'll let them bite back..!"

"That's not even the solution to it..!!" the Beast growled flat impatiently.

"…La…." Q realized something despite his stumped face, "….Lady Deia..?"

The Archant turned his head to him, then flashed a wide pleasant smile; "Young Master Q, such a coincidence to meat you in such a place…." The glowing aura that came along with the smile seemed fake; "…and you, too, think that this little thing is CUTE, right?" the smiling face turned to a serious scowling, "…rriiiight..?!" he pressed while bending his body so that he could see the sitting boy's face more clearly.

Q only blinked.

"What were you doing walking on the shore without wearing your boots..?!" the Beast decided that he should help their host from getting dragged in that situation, and kneeled down taking his Human's left foot to rest on his bent knee.

"Oh, here..!" he opened the rolled dress and took out a leafy wet branch that he swung rapidly to dry it from the caught water somewhat. "Feond'arc..!" his Human said victoriously, "You know, the ones Lyea couldn't find for curing Odin back then? Except that it's not white…" he murmured scowling at the bluish-grey leafs, and snapped himself from the contemplation by shaking his head a little, and presented the short branches to the Beast's face.

"At least it has the same smell and taste, although a bit lighter than the ones grew in Archantra. So I thought it still has the same effect with the ones back home. Go on, take some..!" he urged by waving the ends of the racemiform branches in his hand. At a pair of unexcited prussian eyes staring at the plant, while his hands were loosening the dead-loops of the snake's body, the Archant spoke again; "It's for cleansing your system from the things one's body found unnecessary. This is an interactive-kind of medicine, you know; Lyea said Feond'arc is crucial, right..?!"

"Here, just chew like this and swallow the juice mixed with your saliva..!" the Archant put the base of the stem and pulled it leaving the plucked leafs in his mouth, like the way someone eat dumplings from a stick; then presented the plant again to the Beast's face.

"Just humor me, Yuy…!!" he added in a growl while chewing. The Beast blinked, and slowly mimicked what his Human did; he chewed on those leafs coolly. While the Carcass-snake's head was pulled gently away from the ankle, someones gasped as there could be seen six small bleeding wounds on the white skin. The carcass-snake's fangs were a set of four fangs on the upper jaw and two on the lower, like the common ones in most beasts in Archantra, except that the fangs were not retractable as the usual snakes had.

"It bit you..!!" the black-spectacled man yelped.

"Didn't I say so..?" the Archant muttered with a naïve face. "Is she okay? She's still only a baby, isn't she?" he asked the Beast examining the limp snake; it was the size of two adult's fingers wide and length about 60cm long; the bony exoskeleton made it looked almost like the spinal columns of some other beast, thus it earned its name.

"Hng. She had to learn not to bite something more poisonous than her own venom..!" the Beast muttered between the chewed leafs in his mouth.

"Haaha. That's right little snake you should--…" a pause, "Are you saying I'm more poisonous than a snake with lethal-venom-that-had-no-antivenom-for…?!"

The Beast sweatdropped, "…you think you're not..?"

"Whaa…--?" the Archant made a fish-like mouthed unintelligible words, but complied when the Beast cued him to spit out the leaf juice mixed with his saliva that he had in his mouth into the opened snake's mouth. He stroked the snake's neck to urge it to swallow the small amount of liquid, ignoring his Human foul-staring him with a face.

"…I may be quite accustomed to some poisons, but I wouldn't say I'm poisonous, Yuy..!!" the Archant said flatly; that actually made the Beast chuckled lightly. "Don't make fun of me like that, you bratt..!!" he slapped the down-casted brown head lightly, but the Beast's hand quickly caught the slender hand before his Human could pull it back.

"And you shouldn't hurt yourself hitting me, as well. If I didn't turn my face along with your hand movement, wouldn't you have broken your wrist..?" he mumbled while kissing the back of the white hand, giving it a light massage and fixed the dislocated joints of his knuckle; his Human didn't show the pain when he did it but he felt the hand stiffened, so he licked it repeatedly meaning it to not hurting. And they were absorbed in the process that they were shutting off the surrounding, the Beast even seemed to be forgotten about the snake in his other hand that had started to squirm lightly, but the people realized what they're doing and they were the ones who felt self-conscious instead.

"..u…uhmm…!" Rashid cleared his throat with a light flush on his face; taking the action as the leader since his men wouldn't dare to disrupt their guests; especially such explosive-guests.

Suddenly there was a combined chuckle and laughter coming from the shy-looking Q and a merry Archant who was fanning his left hand towards him like wanting to shoo away his shy-act from his face. The Beast snorted and let his Human's right hand go, Trowa smiled behind him.

"….aren't they-…?" Q said between his chuckles.

"…-likewise..!" the Archant said.

"…but polite enough-…!"

"…enough is too much..!!" the Archant laughed louder, while the full-patched Q trying to control his pains and catch his breath at the same time that his pale face gotten a shade lighter.

Trowa gave his companion a helping hand stroking his back gently; it calmed his hurting friend a bit.

"You know it's not nice having conversation between the two of you in your link-ends while excluding others..!" the calm teenager said.

"…No, no…we're not having…!" Q tried to say but his body decided to give up defending himself.

The Archant laughed for some more and said, "He's an empath so he gets to feel others' feelings, right? And though I'm not one, I got to see what you're feeling exactly from your aura; that including his empath-reading; while he empath-read my seeing….so we're not really converse, you see?"

"Hng. It meant they caught the same message from their surrounding..!" the Beast said as if to himself; not really caring about the men who flushed bright red around them, whatever thoughts they had in their head that they were ashamed of.

"Haa ha hahaha….that includes him for he could smell your thoughts in the air, you know..?!" the Archant messed his Beast's hair a little.

"But I don't find it laughable..!" he muttered.

"EXACTLY..!!" both Q and his Human said in unison.

"….aa, sou ka.." the Beast realized that they were actually comparing him and the gaping men, and found the result worth some laugh.

His Human laughed for a few seconds, before asked in a totally serious tone, "So how is it..?"

The still pained Q read the sudden serious air and he instinctively quietened his breaths; it seemed that the Archant had the tendency to swap feelings suddenly.

"Wersh..!" the Beast answered somewhat.

The Archant tsk-ed, "It's bitter, not wersh; but it should've been more bitter-tasted than this if it grew in Archantra..!" he commented with dissatisfaction.

"I'm asking what you're feeling, Yuy..!"

"…of what?"

"…..your blood-hunger, or power-hunger; whatever you name it. You have refrained yourself from the pull to want his blood more, haven't you..?!" the Archant said none too pleasantly.

"….I only took a taste…" the Beast said hesitantly.

"But you DID lick the Lord of Virion's bloody tongue, didn't you..!!" the Archant said exasperated.

"It's already in my mouth..!" the Beast said matter-of-factly.

"Yessshh; so why did you do it in the first place, even knowing that he's a pureblood?!"

The Beast blinked, and tilted his head a little, mimicking Deia's famous naïve pose instinctively; "I never had a taste of a pure-blood before…?"

"And what good would that bring you, anywaaayyhhhh…?!" the Archant grabbed the Beast's head with both hands and growled out; either it was the result of his overly possessiveness or he had a habit to overdramatized things, Q observed.

"Listen; he nicked his tongue on my teeth, so it would have been left on my teeth, anyway…his blood. And instead of making it that I'm the receiver of that blood, even though it was accidentally, I chose to taste it deliberately so if any mishap should happen I wouldn't be at the end of the string he could pull, but at the end of the string I could cut by my will; do you understand..?" the Beast explained levelly.

"….that means you didn't bond your beast with your blood..?" Trowas asked suddenly, a sense of alert emerged on his stoic face; as another inhuman-creature he seemed to be familiar with that unwritten rule about beasts and their masters.

The Archant scowled at him, "Why would I want to do that to my little brother..?" while messing the brown hair as if apologizing for his accusation; those words got Rashid's brows twitched involuntarily.

"Such title wouldn't bind a beast to you if there's any pure-blood pulling him with his blood….!" Trowa stated calmly and matter-of-factly.

"I bound him with a promise..!" the Archant said levelly with enough confidence. "….I paid with my life; and he'd do what I asked of him. Is that still not enough..?" that got the circle silenced; only the sound of the fire crackling silently heard besides the night creatures out in the open.

"If you're done fighting the pull, then you could eat normally again, right? You made Duo worry enough to break MY sanc's door, you know..?!" he turned to the Beast wrapping his wounded ankle with the cloth he'd torn from his own cloak.

After a long silence of finding his excuse, he answered; "….I didn't mean him to worry…..!"

"Yeah, that's your mistake..! You want to worry about the whole world and everything else besides yourself so he wouldn't have to worry about all that, that's fine; but let him worry over you!"

A stubborn silence answered him, it made him grabbed the Beast's face again and forced him to look at his face. "I'm not going to come out every time Duo thinks he couldn't reach you or you didn't let him to reach you, you know..! You said it yourself: I'M DEAD, am I not..?!!"

Q jerked at the harsh words, feeling the heartache stabbed his heart but not knowing enough whose heartache that was.

The Beast stared his Human's face levelly then he slowly pulled the hands to let his face go. "….baka Human-mine…!" he muttered silently and walked to the lake as the baby snake had awakened and started to lock his wrist.

The Archant stilled on his feet; true, that _she_ didn't ask the Beast's permission nor let him knowing that _she_ was going to leave him, after all that drama _she_ made by yelling on the top of _her_ lungs saying that he should come back to _her…_; but as sudden as it was shouldn't he have prepared himself knowing that was inevitable…?!

….even though he never called Duo 'Human-mine'……..then what did he think of Duo..? It's no wonder Duo didn't think that he had a ground to stand as his foothold in front of the Beast, with the shadow of Deia behind him.

"I know I chose Duo over you, and you could blame me if you think I'm leaving you without even saying it to you…!" The Archant said loudly, and dropped himself roughly to sit on the bough with his arms crossed, grousing to himself. "….and who would free Duo if it wasn't me, there could be no more chance if I didn't take the chance while the Land's vibes were somewhat letting him go, now would it…?! Didn't I always say that I would leave Duo to his hands…."

He silenced for a moment recognizing all the eyes were trained on him, "….I was adopted, like the way I adopted him as a little brother even though everybody thought of him as only a beast-pet; and the ones adopted me only wanted me, not Duo, so they kept him away somewhere others couldn't reach. So, please go easy on him, he really never lived in the world of the living before now…!" and bowed deeply to everyone. That only earned him some eye-blinks.

"….if you would leave him alone, anyway, you should have bound him with something more tangible than only words..!" Trowa stated with a thoughtful face. The Archant turned to him with a stubborn face like the previous; it almost looked childish that everyone used to underestimate Deia's obstinate stubbornness. But Trowa beat him before he could say anything that sounded stubbornly light, "It wouldn't hurt him too much like a half-willed affection and concern that you give him right now..!"

Q widened his eyes at what his companion had said, the Archant's reading turned levelly, it's almost inhuman…no, perhaps Archants were inhuman creatures from the beginning.

A neutral smile; "….I belief that's not your concern; though I'd feel a bit happy that someone stranger think of him somewhat. So I'm going to say it not because I'm defending myself nor trying to make you understand; especially not in the middle of other creatures who think that he shouldn't deserve to be what he is now…" the Archant side glanced at Rashid from the ends of his drooped eyes.

"Human..!" he pointed to himself.

"Beast..!!" and pointed behind to somewhere higher than his head level as the Beast suddenly materialized behind him from the shade of the trees.

"World!!" he made a swiping gesture with chopping-palm at his neck level to everything in front of him in particular; someone would translate that gesture as something sarcastic like saying 'others just dead-off'.

"Anything you want to add, Yuy?" the Archant asked behind one shoulder, a victorious or over-confidence expression glowing on his face. The Beast blinked once comprehending what kind of conversation developed while he was gone to the lake releasing the baby-snake to its habitat again; it seemed like his Human's _former-self_ easily found _her_ habits as well: making _enemies_ if not making friends. That thought almost got him laugh, but he didn't want to open up in the strangers' faces; nevertheless he could feel Q's reading over the situation lightened as he felt his own disposition being read by the wounded human-boy, the Beast let Q read some more to ease his humane mind.

"Water…" the Beast handed a wood-craft mug that made from a hollowed log and only left its bark-layer with a wood-base; he didn't ask whether the Beast made it while he was at the lake or that he had it along with him. He just accepted it, and ignoring the rest of the world he took a big gulp….which he almost immediately blew out of his mouth, coughing heavily bordering to miserable state while hitting the ground with his other hand.

Snapping his bent body backwards his Human pointed the mug while still couldn't find his voice with his coughing; "I said it's water….!" The Beast said levelly. His Human made disbelieving shake repeatedly, croaking out some hitched coughs.

The Beast snorted softly, already knew that it would happen; "…..you already used to consuming poisonous things, something not poisonous tastes awful, right..?"

His Human let out a single cough and stilled at the realization; but he remembered clearly that he could eat and drink on the way to Viricidia, those foods were not poisonous as well, but he didn't taste something wrong with it….

"Those things you had in the way to Viricidia tasted fine, right? That's because the Land's vibes were still connected with you…" the Beast kneeled down; "…that means, even if you were still with me now, you couldn't survive without the Land's existence. So I knew it's inevitable; I'm not blaming anyone…!" Humans made excuses and pointed the blames, beasts were always acceptance because they didn't think, they accepted; it was a mere part of adapting process, they wouldn't be able to survive otherwise.

The Archant's coughs instantly stopped, he stared his Beast with searching-penetrating eyes. "Then, if you're not blaming me for leaving you, or suddenly handed Duo to you……and since you weren't sulking because of none of those you don't feel…--" and understanding dawned in his wide eyes, even though Q noticed that he made too much negative-form overrode the negatives in his sentence that it almost didn't make sense.

"THEN YOU ARE CRAVING FOR THAT VIRILLE LORD'S BLOOD, riiiight..?!!" the Archant jumped to his feet with a renewed anger. "…and ALL THAT you weighed on MY DUO..?!"

The Beast's head dropped to his knees, squatting like a lost little bird with hands unceremoniously lied at either side of his feet; it was always like that with _this-Human-self_ …_as if playing tag with a two-headed hell-hound puppy; sometimes when you feel it save enough to stop and look behind thinking that the puppy was tired and your heart taken by its puppy eyes, it would turn and change the head with its growling wild one and try to bite your offered hand, jump at you with its small cute paws with deadly razor-nails and make a slider of your body to slide on the Naga-glen going up-and-down and up-and-down in inhuman speed_… He didn't even realize he was laughing...! …_and perhaps there are some ulotrichous-quakes cheering at the backgrounds…!_ He could picture the image in his mind and thought that his head already infected with Deia's-thinking-virus; but wasn't it too late trying to relate to _her_ now…?

"…whaaat so funny?!" his Human's face flushed, "I AM really angry, Beast..!!"

But the Beast seemingly couldn't stop his laughing any moment now, so he gave a waving hand above his down casted head to calm his livid Human.

The Archant gaped for a few seconds, and squatted down crossing his hands on his bent knees with face already cleared of anger. "……what's so funny…?!" he pouted covering his curiosity. The Beast continued his laughter for some more time, when he forced himself to stop it sounded to turn into almost sobs.

Easing his breath deeply several times, the Beast looked forward to his squatting Human; "….he's right… I do miss you…!" when he said it his face shone with relief that made a light flush colored his cheeks; with a kind smile on his lips, he looked very much humane that everyone stilled sporting a flush themselves.

"I was just too stubborn to admit that I got too attached with someone…!" –and needing that person like a lifeline; but he didn't say it.

"Hmmph..! There's no one else like me, hu..?!" the Archant muttered with eased. The Beast nodded once.

"Then…don't go calling out to some human I don't know just because you tasted their blood a lick or two..!"

The Beast snorted, "I do not…!"

The Archant snorted back, frowning; "Well… I thought I was going to give you some lashing, but you sure know when to smile me off, don't you..?!" He exploded a breath out, scratching his head roughly while turning his face away. "….this is so anti-climaxing, you know?! What kind of face should I put on when I should leave you with that kind of face you're making…?!"

The Beast's smile gone and he looked down; his fingers played with the ends of his shoes half-consciously. "….I would say…'thank you for taking care of me'…!" he bowed, making his body leant to his bent knees.

The Archant tsk-ed, staring openly; "Then what should I say in return..?"

"Anything you like is fine…"

"……put your mask on…! I hate it that everyone stares at you when you're smiling…!!" he said with a frown.

The Beast smiled again; "…alright..!" and the mock turtleneck melted up his face again covering the lower halve.

"You only put up with me to get to Duo…perhaps you should let him know that; you didn't call him Human-mine because you didn't want to relate him with me. Weren't you just using me all along..?"

And there was an awkward pause after that, everyone squirmed uncomfortably in their seats even though that Human-Beast pair seemingly comfortable enough and already forgotten about them being there.

"…weren't you using me to take care of Duo when you couldn't…?"

"……yeah…"

The Beast's eyes drooped with a hidden smile, "Then we're even…?"

"Hm! No hard feeling…?!" the violet eyes stared straightforwardly.

"Yes..!" the Beast nodded; the answer should be a 'no' in their grammar, but it was the right form in the Beast's other-language grammatical.

The Archant smiled then; "…I hope you wanted Duo because you do want him, not because I asked you to years ago… but it's up to you now..!" he shrugged his shoulders and without any warning his body lost its balance and dropped to his side, eyes closed on a serene face with a trace of smile on his slack mouth.

The Beast's eyes turned to a pair of frozen stones in an instant, he gathered his sleeping Human carefully in his hands, wrapped him gently with the blanket left forgotten on the ground before; bowed slowly to their stunned hosts, and left to the tent the travelers pleased them to use before invited them to dinner.

And no one spoke in the fire circle after that, they stared each other silently, even though they didn't understand what was happening, they realized that they had witnessed the death of a person that once called _Human_ by that retreating Beast; the death of a Lady Deia.

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The early morning air was freezing sharp like slicing the skin off the bones, but he welcomed the sensation his body felt; taking off the riding dress he was still wearing one layer after another, letting them fall onto the water and sink slowly as his feet left them behind uncaringly; Duo stood in the middle of the vast lake with the mist caressing his naked body, his knee-long hair cascading down providing some cover behind his back. Welcoming the world welcoming him, closing his eyes as the Harmony of the Sphere acknowledged his being, he smiled…

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1. ….saru would write 'like a laser-beam-shot' but that would only relevant if this was a futuristic fic; haaahaahaaa…

Couldn't belief that saru took forever to write this chapter; and it's not even making progress with 1x2 (wouldn't you like that?) and somehow it helped adding saru' stress a bit (but didn't saru start to write fic to vent out some stress in the first place…??)

Oh, haven't started the Virion's last chapter, though (is anyone waiting, I wonder…)

_**Highly unimportant author's note :**_ (_don't read this part if you're not delusional as well…since you might have a grudge to the-Monkey afterwards; there's your warning..!_)

These pass years saru couldn't help but see everything Heero-Duo-ish formated even in 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' –and drooled all over self in the movie theater getting utterly hyped-up and commenting something like '_I can't belief Heero did that!_'

While poor Oni-tan (or someone other with saru that time) only pointing something like '_We're NOT watching Heero and Duo, BAKA-DELUSIONAL-SARU..!!_'

Or sometimes when we watched some real-humans movie saru would complain '…_Oni-tan, I can't decide which one is Heero and which one is Duo..!_'; she'd just said '_That's figured; there's no one like that anywhere!_'. But it wouldn't be worth-watching otherwise, right?

And saru got overly depressed when some manga which seen in the Heero-Duo-formated didn't end up happy-end, and couldn't sleep and eat for days over it

So Oni-tan is infected with some Visual-kei bands this pass year, and she knew saru don't like real humans but she would just bait with a line like '_there's someone Heero-ish in the band_..' with laughing eyes; and saru complain about '_what is even Heero-ish about __**those**__..?!_' she would turn livid and ask '_what is it you find so Heero-ish about Freddie Krueger..?!!_' (or was it Edward the Scissorshands..?)

Gotta cure this obsessive-compulsive thing a bit…! Hey, saru even cried over Godzilla every time the movie got rerun on TV because saru think that Godzilla (the American version) is so handsome and LOOKED LIKE HEERO…!! Right?? …anyone with me?? 9.9"

Thanx for reading


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